Concert organized by the Columbus Foundation within the RenHagan Music Festival.

Bilbao Symphony Orchestra.

Address: Ramón Tebar.
Soloist: Joaquín Achúcarro.
Programme: Works by Guridi, Grieg and Brahms.
Place: Euskalduna Palace of Bilbao.
Date: 13 September.

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It was impossible to give up the solidarity concert organized by the Columbus Foundation. As a foundation dedicated to the research of ultra-rapid diseases, it is important to support such initiatives. And if on stage we have a musician like Joaquín Achúcarro, the stimulus is amazing.

At the age of 91 (92 on November 1), Achúcarro is still the usual charismatic pianist, elegant in the fraseo, humble, who joins the orchestra to create a whole of great beauty. Achúcarro is a mirror that we would like to look at all. At that age, with capacity, without rest… not everyone has that gift in life. Except for the cane he uses to walk, we could say he was much younger.

The Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, under the batute of Ramón Tebar, performed a wonderful program. They began with the Prelude of El Caserío, of Guridi. The interpretation was soft and dim. The director was made with the sharp rhythm of the score.

Next, concert for piano in La menor op. We heard 16, one of the most beautiful and well-known concerts in the Pyrenean repertoire. It is a concert with Norwegian dyes, with many references to Scandinavian folklore. The piano has many moments in which it shows its lyrical and virtuosian characteristics, with a magnificent cadence and beautiful passages. Achúcarro, elegant, was very easily confronted with the enormous difficulties of the score. Maybe we hear it less strongly, but with a great fineness of pulsation, certainly compensating for the loss of sound volume. It was a joy to hear Adagio in his hands, so intimidating and dreaming. The popular dance, protagonist of the third movement, came to us with grace and vitality and, in addition, before the applause, Achúcarro gave us one of the lyrical pieces of Grieg full of nuances.

In the second part, the BOS did not forgive the fourth Brahms. He interpreted the symphony in my youngest op.98. Brahms' works are the highlight of the development of symphony in the history of music. They express the solidity and the summit of this kind in the romantic language. The fourth symphony is one of the most emotional works that have been composed so far. Outbreak of nostalgia. I would say that the first theme of the first movement, with the darkness that breaks, is the most beautiful theme of the symphonic repertoire of all time. It was a romantic version, without excesses, quiet, that the Orchestra stretched with clarity and certainty at all times.

A good concert for a good cause.