Wellington Chamber Music presents:
\nRobert Ibell (\u2018cello) and Rachel Thomson (piano)<\/p>\n
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN – Sonata for Piano & Cello in D major, Op 102 No 2
\nLEO\u0160 JAN\u00c1\u010cEK – Poh\u00e1dka (Fairytale)
\nCLAUDE DEBUSSY – Sonata for Cello & Piano
\nALEX TAYLOR – Four Little Pieces
\nZOLT\u00c1N KOD\u00c1LY – Sonata for Cello & Piano Op 4
\nROBERT SCHUMANN – Fantasy Pieces Op 73<\/p>\n
St.Andrew\u2019s-on-The-Terrace, Wellington
\nSunday, 12th May, 2024<\/p>\n
I confess to being tempted to describe this as a well-nigh perfect programme at the concert\u2019s conclusion, except that such fulsome statements are obviously subjective, and have a well-used ring about them when applied to any such compilations, let alone of the \u201creviewing\u201d kind!<\/p>\n
Let me say instead that I found the programme extraordinarily satisfying as such – and this is not to mention the commitment and skill with which the two musicians involved brought to the occasion, though they would obviously have influenced such a judgement.<\/p>\n
A reliable measure of the impact made upon audience sensibilities at any concert is the degree of animated conversation that follows the applause \u2013 and I found myself almost straightaway afterwards talking with each of my neighbours in turn seated on either side (neither of whom I knew at all, beforehand!), with all of us eager to convey how much we had enjoyed this and that and wanting the other\u2019s response to the same. So, this concert certainly passed the \u201canimated audience response\u201d test with flying colours!<\/p>\n
One of the pieces was completely new to me (Alex Taylor\u2019s Four Little Pieces), and another two I\u2019d had to familiarize myself with by finding recordings before going to the concert (Leo\u0161 Jan\u00e1\u010dek\u2019s Poh\u00e1dka (Fairytale) and Zolt\u00e1n Kod\u00e1ly\u2019s Sonata for Cello & Piano Op 4) \u2013 all of which put me in a kind of half-and-half \u201cknew\/didn\u2019t know\u201d situation regarding the content, the kind of thing that can put one on one\u2019s mettle as a listener good and proper! I was lucky that I didn\u2019t find myself \u201coverwhelmed\u201d by too many new things \u2013 it gave my ears different things to do with the two halves of the programme! <\/p>\n
First up was the Beethoven, the fifth and last of the composer\u2019s \u2018Cello Sonatas, works that revolutionised the repertoire for the instrument by completely reworking the relationship between cello and keyboard \u2013 previously a mere supporting instrument in any ensemble, here the \u2018cello was clearly made an equal partner with the piano. Though the two early Op.5 Sonatas were still described as \u201cwith a violincello obbligato\u201d the cello parts were through-composed, each having its own voice, something never before attempted. Beethoven was to give the new form its fully-fledged status in the two Op.102 Sonatas.<\/p>\n
Rachel Thomson exuberantly sounded the opening piano figure, beginning the lovely give-and-take exchanges that characterised this movement, with its charming contrasts between lyrical expression and forthright con brio manner. Both players observed a judicious balance between the two instruments, with Robert Ibell\u2019s tones readily encompassing the forthright and more lyrical aspects of the music\u2019s lines. The players fully realised the opening solemnity of the central Adagio, the sounds \u201cbreathing\u201d as if shared by a single instrument, the con molto sentiment d\u2019affeto direction allowing plenty of expressive freedom, such as in the transitions which moved the music between different intensities \u2013 especially lovely! Which of course, made the concluding fugue Allegro even more fun, not so much a narrative as an encapsulation of changing moods, spontaneous and visceral in places, quixotic and playful in others \u2013 all so masterful, and all thrown off here with such elan and delight!<\/p>\n
Next came a different century\u2019s version of individuality from another master, Leo\u0161 Jan\u00e1\u010dek, with his three-movement work for \u2018cello and piano Poh\u00e1dka (Fairytale), a work Jan\u00e1\u010dek, a staunch Russophile, based on a story from a poem by Vasily Zhukovsky which was inspired by Russian folk-lore. Rachel Thomson both enlightened and amused us by reading a droll synopsis beforehand of the work\u2019s original story, written as a programme note by the great cellist Steven Isserlis for one of his concerts. <\/p>\n
In three movements, the music tells of the young Tsarevich Prince Ivan and his love for the daughter of Kashchei, the King of the Underworld, the tribulations of the lovers as their plans are seemingly thwarted by magic, and their eventual release from the spell and their eventual happy union. Jan\u00e1\u010dek\u2019s settings are more atmospheric and scene-based than actual narratives, the bardic-like exchanges between piano recitative and \u2018cello pizzicato at the very beginning instantly creating a fairy-tale ambience, one in which the urgencies here gradually overwhelmed the music\u2019s lyricism and took hold via driving ostinati as the fearsome underworld King Kashchei pursued the fleeing lovers. <\/p>\n
The second movement\u2019s exchanges similarly reflected the hopes and fears of the beleaguered pair, rather than presenting any of the story\u2019s specifics – both Ibell\u2019s cello pizzicato motif and Thomson\u2019s more rhapsodic piano lines vividly \u201cgrew\u201d tensions and agitations constantly at the mercy of the fates, eventually reaching a concluding point of suspended unease with a single, resigned piano figure. The finale straightaway had the musicians steadfastedly generating a dancing figure, hopeful, occasionally tinged with anxieties, but eventually subsiding in a kind of glow of contentment, leaving us with the feeling that true love here had actually \u201cmade it\u201d over the lovers\u2019 troubles.<\/p>\n
Concluding a first half of unfailingly well-wrought musical utterance was Claude Debussy\u2019s 1915 Sonata for \u2018Cello and Piano. The composer was determined to celebrate all things French, and especially so at the time of the work\u2019s composition (1915) with the idea to the fore that, in the composer\u2019s words \u201cnot even 30 million \u201cboches\u201d can destroy French thought\u201d. The opening Prologue\u2019s introductory piano fanfare, answered by an ardent \u2018cello theme, straightaway affirmed the musicians\u2019 commitment to the music\u2019s sound-world, here, with beautiful, wistful exchanges gradually building up archways in places to the composer\u2019s own La Cathedral Engloutie-like sonorities, before the sounds plaintively retreated, leaving in the memory a lovely harmonic-like note from the \u2018cello at the end.<\/p>\n
If the composer\u2019s earlier solo piano Prelude La serenade interrompue had portrayed something of a thwarted endeavour, this Serenade seemed to engender nothing less than a complete train wreck! Debussy himself strongly objected to one of his interpreters interpolating a commentary characterising the well-known commedia dell\u2019arte character Pierrot in this work, even if the music seems to lend itself to such a programme \u2013 the wonderfully quirky and volatile exchanges between the instruments right from the outset pinged our sensibilities and clattered through our receptive chambers! – all so quirky and volatile, with sound-trajectories whose impulses didn\u2019t last, whether pizzicato or arco, staccato or legato, a veritable orgy of indecision or caprice, with only the work\u2019s finale coming to the rescue by breaking the impasse!<\/p>\n
After such chronic demarcations of expression the finale here seemed at first to burst out of the music\u2019s shell and flood St.Andrews\u2019s sound vistas with uninhibited energies, the folkish dance melody whirling its notations up and down to great effect. There were still more reflective moments in which one might imagine the by then sick and disillusioned composer feeling he had given his all and venting such inclinations, places where Ibell\u2019s and Thomson\u2019s instruments seemed to, by turns, inwardly lament and even momentarily cry out \u2013 but having made such points the players returned the music in rondo-like fashion to the opening dance-like energies, before delivering, in no uncertain terms the work\u2019s final gesture, to suitably appreciative effect among their audience!<\/p>\n
Alex Taylor\u2019s highly diverting collection of miniature pieces which began the second half seemed almost over before it had started, as we had very little idea how to differentiate the pieces’ separate characters, especially with each having a German title which one might have worked out without translation given time, but had then been moved along more quickly than did one\u2019s brain! (I \u201cgot\u201d the first three titles, I think, but was beaten to the finish-line by the final \u201crasch\u201d) – so that understanding came hand-in-hand only with the moment when both players leapt to their feet having played the whole set without any discernable breaks! Still, they provided great entertainment.<\/p>\n
By contrast, Zolt\u00e1n Kod\u00e1ly\u2019s Op.4 Sonata which followed drew us into a spacious and meditative sound-world. Originally in three movements, the work was deprived of its original opening by the composer who felt dissatisfied with both his first and yet another, later attempt at an opening, so the sonata was left in its two-movement form. While the beautiful opening \u2018cello solo does engender a \u201cslow movement\u201d kind of feeling, it makes a magical opening for a work whose character suggests both the composer\u2019s folk-music researches and the influence of Debussy in its impressionistic colourings. Throughout Ibell and Thomson spun a truly atmospheric dialogue of interchange via the music\u2019s leading\/accompanying figures and distinctive instrumental timbres.<\/p>\n
The second movement\u2019s spirited folk-dance-like beginning delighted us with its contrasts and volatility, with Rachel Thomson\u2019s fingers all over the keyboard in places, ideally matching Robert Ibell\u2019s trenchant attack and command of dynamic variation \u2013 playing which seemed to encompass fully the music\u2019s \u201cno holds barred\u201d expression, as full blooded in places as it was piquant and wistful at the piece\u2019s end \u2013 for most of us, a real \u201cdiscovery\u201d!<\/p>\n
More familiar fare was the programme\u2019s last item, the warm-hearted Schumann Fantasy Pieces Op. 73, given here as if it was all second nature to these musicians \u2013 everything flowed under their hands with an inevitability the composer would have surely accepted with gratitude and approval. Originally written for clarinet with piano, these pieces eminently suited the darker tones of the \u2018cello, and its arguably greater expressive range of colour (note: check to see how many clarinettists are on my Christmas card list!). I particularly loved the last piece\u2019s \u201caccelerated exuberance\u201d with the composer urging the musicians to play faster and faster at the end! We loved it, and I took away from the concert most resoundingly a remark from a friend who delightedly greeted me on the way out with the words, \u201cGolly! -wasn\u2019t that Kodaly really something!\u201d I couldn\u2019t have agreed more\u2026..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wellington Chamber Music presents: Robert Ibell (\u2018cello) and Rachel Thomson (piano) LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN – Sonata for Piano & Cello in D major, Op 102 No 2 LEO\u0160 JAN\u00c1\u010cEK – Poh\u00e1dka (Fairytale) CLAUDE DEBUSSY – Sonata for Cello & Piano ALEX TAYLOR – Four Little Pieces ZOLT\u00c1N KOD\u00c1LY – Sonata for Cello & Piano Op Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[177,52,108,104,33,436],"class_list":["post-18206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews-concerts","tag-cello","tag-chamber-music","tag-contemporary-music","tag-new-zealand-music","tag-piano","tag-wellington-chamber-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/middle-c.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/middle-c.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/middle-c.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/middle-c.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/middle-c.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18206"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/middle-c.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18208,"href":"http:\/\/middle-c.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18206\/revisions\/18208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/middle-c.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/middle-c.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/middle-c.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}