Review by Greg Waters of the Filarmonica De Acapulco under the direction of Mtro. Eduardo Alvarez

Date: Saturday, September 9, 2000 at Teatro Juan Ruiz De Alarcon Centro De Convenciones, Acapulco, Mexico 21.00 hour.

Mtro. Alvarez invited me to attend his concert he was giving on Saturday. I usually do not go to concerts because I study the performance rather then enjoy the music and simply do not have a good time doing this; so, because I was personally invited by the Conductor I went. On Saturday, I ask my daughter to attend for I wanted her to hear some real musicians and some real music not the music She listens to on the radio and with her CD player. But She did not attend, so much the power of the low class media we have in the world today. I hope someday She will attend a concert with me.

The work that Mtro. Alvarez is doing is such important work for the city, nation and the world. Many years ago I wrote a article called The Dark Age of Music because of the lack of musicians like Mtro. Alvarez who is really trying to present real music on a high professional level. He is dealing with genius and few people or the world understand his dilemma and task of presenting such an idea to the public.

Because I live outside of Acapulco in a small village, Barra Vieja, I talked about the symphony concert to a few residences here and told them about the concert. But they really had no real idea what a symphony concert was so I left it alone. I might ad that a lot of musicians do not know what a symphony concert is too.

I could not get my daughter to come with me so I went alone to the Centro De Convenciones here in Acapulco. I always hate to leave my village and my house but I did this day. Mtro. Alvarez ask me to compose some music for the symphony and I suppose he wanted to have me hear how the symphony was doing to hear the sound in the hall and the blending of the instruments which I did do this evening.

Walking up the front of the Convention Center there were no people there and I was wondering if anybody was going to attend the program, but to my surprise every seat in the house was taken and the sound of the music hall was wonderful, much clearer than some halls I have been in at Lincoln Center in New York City. So I was in for a nice evening of music and study. But of course the lighting was not all that good at the theater, but at most concert performances for serious music the lighting is always very poor. I suppose that is why Wagner got so upset and built his own theater so he could have control of the visual and audio. Wagner placed the musicians under the stage. I thought this was so disrespectful to them.. I believe musicians should be seen, but with good lighting too. Wagner for me went to the other extreme. But it is the job of an artist to go to the extreme.

Mtro. Alvarez was going for the extreme. He played three concerts in three days in three different cities and three different programs and they were up all night. I could not figure out why the first cello was so tired until Alvarez told us about their work for that week. Musicians need to have time to study, practice and perform. Only with the proper balance of study, practicing and performing can they perform to the best of their ability. Over worked musicians are not the same as waiters serving their clients or dish washing where they can splash the water all over the floor if they want. Musicians must be a fine tuned engine before they can perform to the level of genius. I must say the orchestra did a splendid job considering how hard they have been working.

It is impossible for administrators and the public to understand what is going on in a musician's life. They just do not have a clue to what is going on in a musician's life.. It is a universal problem one based on the work week and not based on musicians real needs. They should not put in 40 hour weeks. I believe maybe three or four good days and three or four days for practice and study to come up with the best music. However, the business community think musicians are dish washers and waiters not fine tuned expensive machines which is what they really are and deserve the respect and pay of such a highly skill professional.

The first composition the orchestra performed was Sombrero De 3 Picos by M. De Falla. The first movement, Los vecinos, started out with a complicated rhythm and was hard to get the feeling of the piece at first and then settled down after a few minutes. And was fun to listen to because it had two different harmonic feelings one of Europe, northern, and the Spanish flavor too. Of course it takes some time for the musicians to warm up, I know it takes me four hours to warm up to perform, of course I do not play every day, but after a few minutes the orchestra was on track playing the music. I would have liked the trumpets to come out a little more and the trombones to state their position more, but it was a nice blend. I am a soloist and I like the soloist approach to music rather than the orchestra players approach.

The second movement where the two dances came out was the fun in the piece in the La danza de Miller. Conductor Alvarez took great pains to follow the dancers rhythm and movement which is not easy. The Dancers got a great reaction from the audience because of the Latin flavor, the dignity of the dance. I only wished there were lighting and spot lights for them to make more of a mood and total artistic experience. But being an artist myself, I am always looking for some kind of perfection so maybe I am asking for too much.

The third movement was somewhat like the first movement. To me the second movement was the highlight of the piece.

C.W. Weber, Concierto para Clarinete op. 73, Clarinetista Edgar Apolonio
The problem with clarinet music is that there is not too much of it and the Weber Concerto is not that great a piece of music because it is somewhere in between Mozart and Beethoven. And the clarinet does not have the history of the violin, piano or even the bassoon. The tone is not conducive to melody playing, but the Clarinetista must deal with these limitations of the instrument. So Clarinetista Edgar Apolonio had a lot to do. For I could tell he had not performed in front of an orchestra too many times. His tone was wonderful in both the high and low registers and his throat tones had a nice strong blend and one could hear all the notes. What I thought was needed was a slower tempo in the Allegro movements and more singing of the melody as a violinist would do. For some reason Clarinetista are not taught the singing aspect of their instrument, that they are taught the clarinet. Benny Goodman one of the great clarinet players of all time knew about such melodic style, but he was a real soloist and your professional clarinetist do not get that kind of experience playing in front of the public. We need more concerts of the woodwinds and brass so they can develop their skills. They can only do that in front of a live audience. I thought he should have had more of the piece from memory he was reading the music too much. A concerto needs to sing from the heart not from the music. A great job by Clarinetista Edgar Apolonio.

W.A. Mozart, Concierto Para Fagot K 191, Sergio Renteria, Fagotista, Bassoon
Mozart the all time genius of melody and the melodic line. The great master musician, what an honor to perform a piece by such a composer. Sergio Renteria did a fine job in living up to the standards of the bassoon and the music. The tempos in the allegro section I thought too were a little too fast. For a bassoon is not a violin or piano it is an awkward instrument and needs more time to place the fingers on the keys. Fagotista, Sergio reed I thought was a little soft and he could have had a little more center to his tone, but then when you have a reed like that it is harder to change the pitch. The strings in both the Clarinet Concerto and the Bassoon Concerto could have played a little louder to make more of a united sound rather than soloist and accompaniment. If they play it ten more times in concert it will be perfect. The Bassoon is one of the oldest instruments in the orchestra by the way. We need to hear more bassoon concertos. The first chair players all need to stand out in front of the orchestra and perform their concertos. My true love of instrumental music is Concertos for this is the blend of the orchestra and the soloist together. The next piece on the concert really brings this idea of soloist and orchestra together in the history of orchestration. Remember in music history we have the history of harmony, the history of instrumental manufacturing and the history of orchestration all working together to bring about the sound of an orchestra.

SCHEHEREAZDE OP. 35 N. RIMSKI-KORSAKOV in five movements.

SCHEHEREAZDE    ONE OF THE GREAT PIECES OF MUSIC IN MUSIC LITERATURE. The violin solo, the clarinet solo, the flute solo, the brass, the strings, the cello and cello section the percussion section all stood out to produce this great piece of music. The strings in this orchestra is the strongest and best part of the orchestra they can stand up to any string section in the world when they know their music. A pure joy to hear the strings of the Filarmonica De Acapulco under the direction of Eduardo Alvarez who also happens to be a violinist. They play as if chamber musicians but have the numbers of an orchestra and to get that kind of blend and all of them playing the right notes was really something to hear. I wish the public could understand what they were listening too?

The tone of the first flute, the first clarinet, the first horn, the first violin were all on an international level and deserve much praise. The snare drum sound always seem to bother me. It was not clear. I believe it was the size of the drum. It did not blend well with the orchestra or it was not tuned correctly. The brass had their ups and downs. I wished they would have come out a little stronger at times and performed more like a separate section rather than trying to blend in all the time with the other groups in the orchestra, woodwinds and strings.

But this piece showed the genius of Conductor Alvarez and what a tone poem he created for the public and his orchestra. I hope it was a proud day for him! There is really culture in Acapulco (and not only hotels) now that Conductor Alvarez is here. The overall sound of the orchestra can be respected wherever it goes and is truly a professional group of musicians. Alvarez is bringing Acapulco into a great international city with real culture.