‘A Thesaurus of Violinistic Fiendishness’
On the 23rd and 24th August, I recorded Paul Pellay’s extraordinary cycle-the Thesaurus of Violin Fiendishness, in Aldbury church.
Here are an outtakes from the recordings, the first based on Goya’s ‘Black Paintings’.
Goya’s two passions were music and conversation, both of which were progressively denied to him as he lost his hearing from the 1790s The inventory of the Quinta del Sordo , the summer house on the outskirts of Madrid, where Goya painted his astonishing Black Paintings in the 1820s informs us that along with his collection of music, Goya owned particular equipment for playing chamber music, most particularly, an English made mahogany table with fold up music stands built in. The music collection included, alongside Lafont, music by Kreutzer, Rode, Baillot, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. These might have been brought to Goya’s salons by the violinist/mountebank Alexandre Boucher himself, who may, or may not, be the actual composer of La Marseillaise. But most excitingly, it lists his string instruments, which included a fortepiano , three violas, and three violins, made by Ortega, Gaudagnini, and Guarneri del Gesu. So it seemed that Goya was playing the type of violin most beloved by the virtuoso (Paganini) whose imagination was closest to his own. Whether he ever knew of Paganini, we cannot know, but this only increases my sense that the two had a peculiar connection-even if only in hindsight.
Perhaps the most touching moment in Pellay’s 2 hour cycle is from Book 3-’Mid-South Recollections’. This book is entirely rooted in Paul’s profound love of America, particularly of the landscape and culture of Tennessee.
This movement is set in Milan Tennessee. It is entitled Morpheus in Milan, and incorporates the melody-’Tell me where the Ivy Climbs’.
Engineer-Jonathan Haskell (Astounding Sounds)
Find out more-go to> http://www.peter-sheppard-skaerved.com/composers/paul-pellay/