On a musical trail

Her melody took flight as she gently touched the grand piano’s keys. As Natallia K Kapylova’s music cascaded through ‘Sonata in E major BMV 1035’, it blended with the meandering harmonic manoeuvre of the flute.

The talented pianist, accompanied by Patricia Wind-Smith on the flute, performed at the concert, ‘Baroque and Opera Classics for Piano and Flute’, that was held at Alliance Francaise, recently.

The two musicians presented the history of music in Europe to the music-lovers during the show. The duo played fine pieces by composer JS Bach, who is considered as a luminary from the baroque era. Natallia’s play with the keys was extremely light but powerful and magnetic, as she absolved herself entirely into the rhythm and moved from one octave to another.

Patricia blew out a beautiful harmony on her flute when she played ‘Allemande from Partita in A minor BMV 1013’ that struck a chord with the audience. She did complete justice to this piece, which is considered as Bach’s work for a solo wind instrument only. ‘Chaconne from Partita no.2 in D minor B’ by Natallia received a standing ovation for her melancholic tune  when she balanced out the harmonic progressions and melodic interventions.

From the grand, classical section, their pieces soon shifted to joi-de-vivre music that were written for operas such as ‘The Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Orfeo ed Euridice’ by Gluck and the lyrical ‘Sonata no.8 in C major and Sonata no.9 in G minor’. The duo concluded with a mash-up of a Bollywood number and classical harmony. The pieces were transcribed versions of the original, which were changed through the years to suit contexts and cultural influences.

Natallia, who has been in Bengaluru for seven years now, collaborates with new musicians and singers who come into the City. “I noticed that Patricia was a talented musician and wanted to perform with her. We chose a few pieces that we liked and then developed our theme. This concert was very special because our pieces were transcriptions. Any melody, harmony and rhythm can be played in a piano but some ‘sonatas’ and pieces are written only for flutes. We tried to keep it pure and true to the baroque era.”

Though Natallia trains many City-based musicians and singers for repertoires, she feels that a lack of system has not yet nurtured the growth of Western classical music. “The rise of private tutors poses a challenge to music in the City despite the number of talented musicians present here. People start teaching after they finish Grade-5 in music but it is not like this in the West. I work with a lot of teachers to help them give classes to students.”

Shazia, a professional, felt that there was no better way to spend the evening. “The chemistry was exquisite though there were only two artistes performing. The artistes explored the scope of both eras with the melodic and harmonic elements which was refreshing.”