CONCERTS

Your monthly critical round-up of performances, recordings and publications

THIS MONTH’S RECOMMENDED RECORDINGS

Our pick of the new releases

Timothy Ridout and the Doric Quartet thrill in Mendelssohn PAGE 84

Precocious maturity from Johan Dalene PAGE 85

Searing solo Weinberg from Gidon Kremer PAGE 91

New York

A magical Musical Monday from Tai Murray and friends

KEVIN ALEXANDER

TAI MURRAY (VIOLIN)

MELISSA REARDON (VIOLA)

RAMAN RAMAKRISHNAN (CELLO)

DOUG BALLIETT (DOUBLE BASS)

AARON WUNSCH (PIANO)

ADVENT LUTHERAN CHURCH 17 JANUARY 2022

During the continuing uncertainty wrought by the pandemic – as concerts continue to be brought back to life, then rescheduled, then cancelled altogether – the long-running Music Mondays series can only be applauded. Many of its offerings, including this one, have been live-streamed.

This convergence of five of New York’s best musicians chose works inspired by Schubert’s ‘Trout’ Quintet, which opened the evening. Delicacy and vigour infused the first movement, admirably articulated, followed by the caress of the Andante. The sizzling third movement had occasional borderline scratchy timbres – all apparently by design, in contrast to the velvety episodes; and the finale had an appealing rusticity.

Intlanzi Yase Mzantsi (‘The Fish from South Africa’) written in 2006 by Bongani Ndodana-Breen was inspired by the fourth-movement melody of the Schubert. Against a tapestry of pizzicatos and rhythmic drones, the piano blinks in joyful counterpoint. The result sounded not unlike some of the small Irish folk ensembles common in local pubs. Next came Judith Weir’s A Song of Departure (2017), born from Schubert’s ‘Abschied’ as a valentine to the Schubert Ensemble. The players duly imbued it with gentle nostalgia.

As a bookend to the Schubert came Vaughan Williams’s Piano Quintet in C minor, launched with sweep and passion in the first movement. Watching the tendrils of the rapturous Andante unfold and flower was a joy, and that warmth continued to blossom in the finale.

BRUCE HODGES

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MAXIM VENGEROV (VIOLIN)

SIMON TRPČESKI (PIANO)

CARNEGIE HALL 21 JANUARY 2022

‘It’s so nice to be back in New York!’, beamed Maxim Vengerov, with Simon Trpčeski at the piano turning to smile at the lengthy cheers and applause. Given the latest pandemic threat – and subsequent cancellations of many events – the Carnegie Hall audience was surprisingly large.

The pair began with Mozart’s Violin Sonata in E minor K304 –a genial, if subdued opening. Vengerov’s rivers of legato were even more delectable when combined with the sonorities from his 1727 ‘Kreutzer’ Stradivari. Prokofiev’s First Violin Sonata upped the temperature considerably, with Vengerov in high-concentration mode during the eerie filigree passages. Rough-hewn lunges during the second movement were tempered with sweetness, while Trpčeski felt like an amiable demon at the piano. The mellow, introspective Andante eventually yielded to the reprise of the violin filigree in the finale, returning like a love letter.

The by-turns sweet and stormy Franck Violin Sonata in A major showed off Vengerov’s unceasing tonal purity and beauty of phrasing. After seemingly endless soaring, the final movement arrived with the simplicity of a child’s song. The audience reacted to the moment with a standing ovation – before the concert had ended.

To close came Ravel’s Tzigane, with bravura at every turn – all peppery pizzicatos and fire. Encores seemed inevitable, and we were treated to three:

Kreisler's Liebesleid and Liebesfreud seemed like reunions with old friends, and Fauré’s Après un rêve brought the evening to a glistening close.

BRUCE HODGES

GABRIEL MARTINS (CELLO) 92Y 27 JANUARY 2022

Brazilian–American cellist Gabriel Martins made his New York City mainstage debut at the 92Y in January with a performance of Bach’s first three unaccompanied Cello Suites. He launched into the G major with the most gentle and unassuming Prelude, immediately capturing the ear with the clarity of his line. Throughout, his playing was clean but never sterile, and his attention to nuance and rubato didn’t disrupt the overall metre. The ritardando that brought the G major’s Allemande to an end was exquisite, and the Courante was not too brisk.

A striking debut from Gabriel Martins

COURTESY 92Y

The D minor Suite had a fine sombreness to it and I loved his arpeggiated chords at the end of the Prelude and the ornamentation in the Allemande. However, in this suite as well as elsewhere, I wished for a bit more spontaneity in the faster movements. His approach was consistently measured and beautiful, but at times I could have done with more risk-taking. Martins addressed the crowd before the final suite, thanking everyone for ‘taking a chance on me, a young musician’ (he stepped in at the last minute to replace Steven Isserlis, who had visa problems).

Martins’s C major Prelude was quite moving – on the fast side but beautiful in execution and timing. I loved his Courante – also quick, but flawlessly played and with remarkably clean articulation and graded dynamics. Solo Bach is intensely personal – to perform, to practise and to hear – and I rarely find it completely satisfying in concert. However, Martins’s sense of style and unassuming approach, combined with his lithe, effortless ability on the cello, made this a deeply moving experience. I only wish he had played all six suites!

LEAH HOLLINGSWORTH

SEAN LEE (VIOLIN) PETER DUGAN (PIANO) ROSE AUDITORIUM, LINCOLN CENTER 27 JANUARY 2022

Sean Lee, a Chamber Music Society season artist, and Peter Dugan, a faculty member at the Juilliard School Extension, gave a rare performance of the 24 Paganini Caprices with piano accompaniments composed by Robert Schumann before an audience in Lincoln Center’s Rose Auditorium, which was also live-streamed. Nowadays we’re inclined to think that Schumann’s accompaniments detract from Paganini’s summa violinistica, rather than adding anything. This is chiefly because of the conflict between the inevitable production of an accent with each keystroke, particularly in the cantabile caprices, and a disproportionate emphasis on rhythm over phasing. In Caprice no.8 in E flat major, for instance, the piano hinders the violin’s flow; in no.21 in A major it sentimentalises the Amoroso section. Although the two instruments don’t share any melodic material, the piano accompaniment for Caprice no.4 in C minor effectively transforms it into a genuine duet.

A Paganini rarity from Sean Lee and Peter Dugan

LEE PHOTO CHERYLYNN TSUSHIMA. KAVAKOS PHOTO MARK ALLAN

Lee and Dugan offered exemplary teamwork in their traversal of the Caprices, played out of score order to provide plenty of variety. I only wish they had discouraged the audience from applauding after each one, thereby weakening any mood established by their chosen selection. The first dozen was followed by Dugan’s solo appearance in Liszt’s Paganini Étude no.2 (based on Caprice no.17) to close the programme’s first half; the remaining twelve were heard after the interval. The pair’s overall musical approach seemed to reflect their respective dress on stage. Lee, in a suit, was elegant both in his phrasing and the pleasing sound of his instrument, a 1995 violin by Sam Zygmuntowicz played with a Vigneron bow from c.1890. Dugan’s approach at a Hamburg Steinway seemed to reflect his more casual dress (sports shirt and dungarees), with more primary colours and fewer tints.

DENNIS ROONEY

London

LEONIDAS KAVAKOS (VIOLIN) LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA/ SIMON RATTLE BARBICAN 6 JANUARY 2022

Omicron was raging; yet, incredibly, when Leonidas Kavakos walked out to deliver the Covid-delayed world premiere of Unsuk Chin’s Second Violin Concerto Scherben der Stille (‘Shards of Silence’), it was before a virtually full Barbican Hall.

Kavakos’s artistry has led to Chin breaking a career-long principle of writing only one concerto per instrument, and the unflashy but technically formidable qualities of Scherben der Stille felt tailor-made for his trademark focused intensity supported by a virtuosic LSO. Kavakos brought to the piece’s solo opening – wispy harmonic-filled triplets tumbling around a two-note rhythmic motif on a pedal G – myriad gradations of colour and dynamic, and the orchestra’s entry grew subtly from soft, rustled tissue-paper tremolo, evocative of rain on a roof. As it gained in power there were striking hypnotic repetitive pulsations married with a strong sense of direction. Most compelling were the echoes of Chin’s electronic music past, via orchestral sound effects fascinatingly hard to trace back to source. Less compelling was its stock 21st-century conceit of atmospheric episodes punctuated by multicoloured orchestral outbursts – perhaps why the night’s truly frenzied applause went to the orchestra’s tautly ravishing Sibelius Symphony no.7 and a polished, zinging Bartók Miraculous Mandarin Suite.

CHARLOTTE GARDNER

Colour and dynamics from Leonidas Kavakos

A bouquet of captivating romances frrom Henning Kraggerud and Ljubica Stojanovic

COURTESY WIGMORE HALL

HENNING KRAGGERUD (VIOLIN)

LJUBICA STOJANOVIC (PIANO)

WIGMORE HALL 10 JANUARY 2022

Romances threaded their way through this lunchtime concert, beginning with Amy Beach’s of 1893. Kraggerud started out with an appropriate sweetness of tone, which quickly developed into urgent passion. More urgent still was the opening of Grieg’s Third Violin Sonata, in which the semiquaver groups –a crucial part of the theme – were almost submerged in the adrenalin rush. The movement developed into a real drama, though, unsettling and sometimes vehement, packing a powerful emotional punch and wonderfully played. And so to the second romance (strictly a romanza), the sonata’s second movement, the melody firmly and expressively shaped, before the affirmative central Allegro molto. When it returned, the Romanza was gossamer-toned. The final Allegro animato was full of nervous energy, conveyed with fierce, punchy bowing.

The third Romance was Kraggerud’s own. His Romantarctica, subtitled ‘Heroes from the past and hopes for the future’, was jointly commissioned by the Arctic Philharmonic and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and first performed last year. It has already been adapted to various groupings; this was the UK premiere of the violin and piano version. Romantarctica was inspired by the voyages of the polar explorers and its musical language follows straight on from Grieg: wistful, sprightly, played with great tonal variety. Whether it captures the grand deeds of its inspiration is a moot point, but it was an effective performance. Stojanovic was excellent throughout.

TIM HOMFRAY

KIAN SOLTANI (CELLO)

LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA/ MARIN ALSOP

ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL 14 JANUARY 2022

The Austrian–Iranian cellist Kian Soltani launched into Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto with a kind of dogged energy, his tone gritty and his bow biting into the strings. This was a high-octane performance from the outset, and was full of nervous tension. Soltani was technically impeccable at full tilt, as Shostakovich relentlessly piles on the challenges.

The guest principal horn Nicholas Mooney was a fine ally in the prominent solo horn part, particularly in the latter stages, as the orchestra fell away and left them in energetic duet. Soltani brought great lyrical expression to the long cantilena of the second movement, and deftly developed its great span as it progressed toward fortissimo passion against quiet strings, and on to the uncanny purity of his harmonics, weaving Shostakovich’s wistful melody in partnership with the celesta.

The third-movement cadenza uncoiled steadily from its quiet opening through impeccable two-part counterpoint to impassioned rhetoric at its climax. The finale was a ferocious dance, with compulsive power and a kind of jubilation, with the LPO and Marin Alsop in vibrant accord. This was, in all its moods and colours, and its technical flamboyance, a remarkable performance.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra began the concert with an assured and compelling performance of Samuel Barber’s Symphony in One Movement op.9 and concluded with a fine account of Brahms’s Fourth.

TIM HOMFRAY