In the search for imaginative solutions that do not too much disrupt the way of life we considered normal, digital technology represents a valuable ally, both in terms of professional performance and for maintaining certain leisure spaces and safeguarding access to culture.
On the day that marked 250 years since the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven ---December 16, 1770--- pianist Valentina Lisitsa performed a marathon program dedicated to him at the Palau de la Música Catalana under the watchful eye of his bust ---imposing and somewhat severe, on stage---, which most spectators usually have to their right. But also before the gaze of many others, who followed the recital in great detail on their respective screens, outside the modernist temple.
[subscribe_newsletter_esp]It must be said that Lisitsa's popularity has not only been forged in concert halls, but has also reached the homes or mobile devices of hundreds of thousands of people thanks to interventions in the streets of cities like London. Her 2013 recital at St. Pancras station with a semi-dilapidated piano and in front of a diverse audience ---but coincidentally amazed--- reaches a million views, if we add those of the various videos uploaded to YouTube.
But, returning to the Palau de la Música, along with the numerous attendees in the main hall, more than 1,500 people were able to follow the celebration via streaming from the Palau Digital platform, a celebration that was also broadcast on Vimeo, Facebook, and of course YouTube. A celebration broadcast thanks to a generous deployment of cameras, which captured the power and inspiration of the guest artist from various angles. Although the production did not err on the side of preciousness, nor did it distract attention from the focus of interest, this concert hall confirms itself as a wonderful set. The deco details ---sinuous iron lamps crowned by soft light spheres, chromatic mamelon on the ceiling, tesserae of premeditated irregularity, and all sorts of floral motifs--- were glimpsed in the wide shots, in frontal or rear views of the concert hall. Shots that alternated or merged with deliberate ---almost intrusive--- close-ups of Valentina Lisitsa, focusing on her hands, restless and precise, or on the changing expressiveness of her face. A privilege to contemplate the scope of her technique, displayed with passion and revealing some of the emotional states that the score seems to induce.
It must be said that the application of digital technology by the Palau de la Música in the Beethoven Year is not new. Without knowing what was going to happen throughout 2020, it was decided to record the last concert of the complete symphonic cycle conducted by John Eliot Gardiner ---including a superb Ninth--- which is now accessible through Palau Digital. The platform holds an exceptional and unique testimony of that international project, initially limited to the cities of Barcelona, New York, Chicago, Athens, and London. Unpredictably, the only record that remains of Gardiner's Beethovenian celebration, in such a significant year, is the one filmed at the Palau, as the concerts at the Barbican in London ---where it had been planned to record the entire cycle--- never took place due to the pandemic. Still in Barcelona, and more recent than the Palau's digital proposal, the Auditori has launched an initiative ---urged by circumstances--- with ticket purchases at very reduced prices. A measure also implemented by other Catalan ensembles that, like the Orquestra Camera Musicae, do not have their own concert hall.
Consumption à la carte cultivates the belief that we have a certain control over reality, which is always pleasant, especially in a context of uncertainty.Even if forced by the current situation, such initiatives seem to follow the example of world-renowned venues, such as the PhilarmonieBerlin-based, which has been offering local and foreign audiences historical concerts for years ---with Karajan and company--- and of course also the current season, with weekly appointments available on itsDigital Concert Hall. The musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic intone a slogan as a welcome ---"Here we play only for you--- which is symptomatic of our times: exclusivity is offered, a particular treatment... from a distance.
The proliferation and variety of electronic devices, portable or not (from smartphones to televisions connected to the Internet), allows the consumption of cultural events to be incorporated into daily life. We are talking here about the world of Classical music, but this delocalization and adaptation to personal circumstances happens in many other areas, with offers for all audiences and tastes. The case of Stay Homas ---three flatmates who, during confinement, like so many others, dedicated themselves to making music from their terrace and sharing it on social media--- is symptomatic of this new modality of relationship between artist and public, in a proximity that can only be described as "paradoxical": without the physical presence of the artist, but with the privilege implied by access to the act and even ---in some cases--- the possibility of questioning them and influencing their musical proposal.
On-demand consumption cultivates the belief that we have a certain control over reality, which is always pleasant, but especially so in times of uncertainty. The compulsive viewing of series ---external plots that temporarily overlap with one's own life--- paradigmatically illustrates this need. Perhaps it is not necessary to recall that the separation of reality and fiction is in itself artificial, insofar as our brain ---neuroscientists like Antonio Damasio have explained, in Descartes' Error--- does not qualitatively distinguish them. In fact, our brain finds it difficult to be in two places at once; it is interested ---for evolutionary reasons--- in unifying, so it integrates one reality into another, as evidenced in the process of psychological identification with characters in narratives or in the generally unconscious wanderings of fantasy that make us "be elsewhere."
However, precisely because the brain is ductile, through the visualization of musical performances, that spatiotemporal break ---the fact that we are not at the scene of the events--- can also be disguised and allow us to vibrate, as if the sound waves we perceive were the naturally propagated ones. There is no guarantee of achieving this, just as there is no guarantee that a novel or film will manage to touch our sensitive side.
Precisely because the brain is ductile, that spatiotemporal break --the fact that we are not at the scene of the events-- can be disguised through visualization, and allow us to vibrateWhat is undeniable is that, as this turbulent 2020 is about to end, the event at the Palau invites us to continue appreciating Beethoven's exceptionality:a perpetual challenge to normality, which sensitively fosters new ways of perceiving and feeling music. Valentina Lisitsa emptied herself in her recital with the uninterrupted performance of five sonatas like five suns ---initially four were programmed, and she added a fifth, the famousMoonlight--- throughout which he demonstrated a very convincing boldness and rigor. Especially lucid sounded his version of the sonataWaldstein, but it was the "Apassionatafinal, with its characteristic syncopated rhythms, the piece that made the audience present at the Palau rise from their seats. It is impossible to determine the type of ovation from the telematic spectators, connected to the musical event thanks to the transmission instreaming. Due to the high number of views maintained throughout the recital ---if we add the different channels--- it is legitimate to think that, at the very least, they must have felt satisfied. Gathered here or there, in a paradoxical proximity, which reveals the prodigious nature of live interpretation, alive despite the distance.