San Francisco Classical Voice

Froberger's Lamento is a particularly expressive 17th century piece which features unusually low tessitura, slow-moving minor harmonies, poignant modulations, and dramatic pauses. Written in memory of lutenist Charles Fleury it also inverts a traditional convention. Seventeenth century tombeaux frequently featured a slowly rising scale meant to symbolize the soul of the departed ascending to heaven. It seems that Fleury died when he fell down the stairs to his wine cellar. Froberger's piece concludes with a rapid scale, dramatically introduced, and ends with a jolt. Hoppstock played the music with great pathos and the final passage with admirable vigor.

Falla's Homenaje, with its plethora of articulation, dynamic, and tempo markings, is well known to guitarists. Hoppstock performed it with an austere precision perfectly calibrated to bring out the work's barely contained passion. Leo Brouwer marked Toru Takemitsu's death with his composition Hika, a moody elegy based on a Bulgarian theme that Takemitsu loved. The use of retuned second and fifth strings allowed Brouwer to create an exotic atmosphere well captured by the soloist. Hoppstock's decision to group these disparate meditations on death was stimulating.

Ferdinando Carulli was an Italian guitarist and composer active in Paris in the early 19th century, where he was the center of a guitar craze which brought him fame and fortune. A prolific composer, he published 366 opus numbers, which featured rapid arpeggios; scales; passages in thirds, sixths, and octaves; slurs; glissandos; and harmonics. I had never heard a composition by Carulli that I enjoyed, so I awaited this part of the program with some trepidation. In an engaging introduction, Hoppstock spoke of the need to search through Carulli's many scores to find the rare gem and admitted having recomposed the music he was going to play in the style of Mozart. I assume it was for one of these reasons I found the selections enjoyable.

Andrés Segovia, the great 20th century Spanish guitarist, also indulged in the art of significantly altering the work of composers. When Manuel Ponce presented him with a set of 24 preludes in all major and minor keys, Segovia culled the selections he found ineffective and altered the keys of others to place them in more resonant parts of the guitar. While the integrity of the original composition was violated, the selection of preludes that Hoppstock performed left me less concerned with Segovia's audacity than impressed by his good judgment and musicality.

Brouwer's music was featured twice at the end of the program. First his Tarantos, a response to the flamenco form, was paired with a more traditional flamenco Taranta by Paco de Lucia. Finally his La Espiral Eterna — no less than an exploration of the structure of the universe — concluded the program. The score draws its inspiration from a spiral galaxy whose structure can be seen in the smallest of life forms on earth. In four imaginative sections Brouwer explores the function of spiral forms in gaseous nebulae, the birth of stars, molecular structure, and the beginning of life. The first section begins with a three-note cluster played tremolando, which expands and contracts in a continuous wave of sound until it finally resolves into a single note. The second section explores percussive effects and moves toward micro tonality. The third section uses aleatoric effects with both hands playing on the fretboard. The fourth section incorporates improvisation, Cuban dance rhythms, and a return to the note clusters of the beginning. Hoppstock had complete control over every aspect of this demanding masterpiece. It was a magnificent end to a compelling recital.