Editor’s note: “Rock ‘n roll” was written by Aljaž Zupančič in a prose review style dedicated to Laurence Vittes that surrounds the Maribor Festival 2011, Boundless Creativity and Song project No. 2, with Giovanni Sollima on cello and Marino Formenti, piano. Author Zupančič was born in 1988 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. After finishing grammar school in Kočevje, he went to study at the University of Ljubljana, where he is now a senior member of the musicology program in the Faculty of Arts. Currently he is also president of the student section of the Slovenian Musicological Society. Besides writting reviews for various publications, he is also active as a composer.
Rock ‘n Roll
It was a rock concert.
A man who plays Vivaldi and Nirvana.
A man who plays Stravinsky and Nirvana.
It was a rock concert.
It was all about Sollima.
Sollima is a rockstar.
One feels a desire to start dancing.
Nirvana sounds better with Kobain’s guitar, but his cello almost became one.
It became obvious: music sounds better, when it looks good.
During the break, a woman in a black dress shouted: »This was the best concert of all!«
If you weren’t there, you missed a lot.
Giovanni is not only a hard-core guy, he is also sentimental:
Wild plus romantic equals Italian: I wouldn’t be able to say no to him…
… if he was selling shoes.
He can play without glasses.
He can play and walk at the same time.
He can walk and play at the same time.
He can play one cello with his friend – cello for four hands.
He can play two cellos at once (for a price of a thread of a bow).
Sometimes other musicians were a little bored.
Sometimes they seemed like bass players, who only have tonic and dominant to play.
But most of the time, they were infected by his energy.
It became obvious: someone who doesn’t like rock music is missing a lot.
It became obvious: someone who doesn’t like rock music doesn’t get much sex.
Sometimes, things were too cheesy.
But that comes with the Sollima package.
And how could an Italian be any different?
He opens his mouth and fills it with the sounds of his cello.
He reminds me of Glenn Gould.
(in a certain way)
He is a show-off.
He is multipersonal though.
He reminds me of Vinko Globokar too.
(in a certain way, of course)
The cello becomes an extension of his body.
Marko Letonja just helped – the ego wasn’t there.
Someone might say that Violoncelles, vibrez is an empty piece, that it lacks musical substance.
Some other piece with the narrator reminded me of music of the French composer Luc Ferrari.
He was also a crazy guy.
After the concert a woman shouted: »This was the best concert of my life!«
I wouldn’t like to hear it again, but this one time it was awesome.
It was a rock concert.
It was also a jazz concert.
A rock-jazz concert.
A jazz-rock concert.
It was all about Formenti.
Formenti is a jazz-rock star.
He tried to show the power of non-classical music.
He rushed onto the stage and immediately started playing – it was a bombastic beginning.
Nothing he did later was comparable.
Sitting next to an Australian woman, drinking cold beer and listening to Kurt Weill’s music was a special experience.
(Editor’s note: This second concert corresponded perfectly with the first one.)
He reminded me of Glenn Gould.
(He hummed a lot.)
He demanded applause for the pretty girl who was then turning pages of his scores.
(Every rock star has a pretty girl somewhere around.)
Marino is not only a hard-core guy, he is also sentimental:
Wild plus romantic equals Italian: I wouldn’t be able to say no to him…
… if he was selling shoes.
He had lectures between the songs.
That was great.
If you weren’t there, you missed a lot.
He was a show-off.
He played a lot of tangos.
He said that tangos are erotic.
Sometimes, things were too cheesy.
But that comes with the Formenti package.
He does not know what rest (a pause) means.
No waiting, no time for metaphysics to come!
Monday, 5th September 2011 was a great evening.
Tango is erotic music.
Erotic music is hot.
The cellar where the concert was became hot as well and it was hard to breathe.
Formenti suggested voting if we should turn on the air conditioning, which was very loud, so then it wouldn’t be possible to play beautiful music. We would have to wait for a bit.
But some woman shouted: »Just play!«
Women in Slovenia shout a lot.
He played Coldplay.
He played Nancarrow.
He played Nirvana.
Nirvana sounds better with Kobain’s guitar, but his piano almost became one.
His Nirvana had an interesting prelude – he was hitting the piano strings with a glass, I think.
I thought it would be great if he would continue experimenting with that.
But then he started playing chords and melody.
There was no music, there was only theatre.
But it was awesome!
Before the last song of the evening, the doors of the restaurant upstairs opened and the noise from there was heard downstairs: the festival staff ran to close them to stop the noise. They did it. But only a few moments later the loud air conditioning system started.
All that happened while Marino was already playing the last song of the evening.
There was no music, there was only theatre.
I wouldn’t like to hear it again, but this one time it was awesome.
About
Laurence Vittes is a 40-year veteran as a music and performing arts critic, providing his expertise to the Gramophone, Hollywood Reporter, Strings, HuffPost Arts, Music Web International, Audiophile Audition and the Art-to-Art Palette Journal and its affiliates. In addition, he co-hosts with Alexey Steele the Classical Underground concerts in Torrance, California, 20 miles south of Walt Disney Concert Hall.