Page 85 - BBC Music (January 2020)

Chamber Reviews
Beethoven
Violin Sonatas Nos 1-3;
Variations on Mozart’s ‘Se vuol’
ballare’, WoO 40
James Ehnes (violin),
Andrew Armstrong (piano)
Onyx ONYX 4177 68:25 mins
Beethoven
published the
first three of
his sonatas for
violin and piano
aged only 28,
yet what abundance and vitality of
invention they display! And what
variety of character: there’s the
broad unfolding of Sonata No. 1’s
first movement, proclaiming his
intention to work on the largest
formal scale; then the burlesque
fun and games of the opening
movement of No. 2 in A major with
its unexpected lapses into shadowy
minor keys; and the intimacy of
the deeply expressive Adagio of
No. 3. Evidently, he was determined
to raise the elegance, pathos and
formal perfection found in Mozart’s
violin sonatas to an altogether more
elaborate and comprehensive level.
James Ehnes and Andrew
Armstrong have already released a
recording of Violin Sonatas Nos 6
and 9 to much praise, and this new
disc in what will, presumably, be a
complete Beethoven cycle, is hard
to fault. Ehnes’s virtuosity, and the
distinctive sweetness of his tone in
more lyrical passages, is perfectly
complemented by Armstrong’s
sensitively-graded pianism and the
irresistible ‘lift’ his left hand imparts
to the bouncier passages. The
recorded balance is about as good
as one will get, given the weightier,
thicker tone of the modern grand
compared with the fortepianos
Beethoven knew. The early set of
Mozart variations make an engaging
fill-up. Bayan Northcott
PERFORMANCE HHHH
RECORDING HHHH
Feldman
Patterns in a Chromatic Field
Mathis Mayr (cello),
Antonis Anissegos (piano)
Wergo WER 7382 2 79:42 mins
Morton Feldman
has proved one of
the 20th century’s
most influential
composers. Yet he
remains one of its
most enigmatic, and his late works
retain an aura of mystery steeped
with the grandeur, anxiety and
quietly changing colour he adored in
abstract expressionist painting and,
latterly, Anatolian rug design.
Patterns in a Chromatic Field
(1981) is perhaps the most
rhythmically active of these
famously long, static pieces,
which showed his increasing
preoccupation with matters of
form, scale and musical memory.
Cellist Mathis Meyr and pianist
Antonis Anissegos bring their
improvisor’s sensibility and rigour
to the score, etching its subtleties
note by note into a tapestry of ever-
evolving present.
Abstraction is key in the
relationship of local moment to the
whole – whether it be a single, soft
harmonic or a chord sustained to the
point of disappearance; a sudden
Exceptional collaborators: the Nash Ensemble works well with Julian Anderson
pizzicato flurry or an obsessively
repeated motif. No note or gesture
has a meaning beyond itself, yet all swings over a pizzicato safety net, celebrates its 50th anniversary
are essential within the patterns is done with what in context is just with this release, chronicles it
which continually shift and change, the right amount of levity. These all eloquently in Linn’s generous
grasped as if from the air to create, are very much modern-instrument presentation. He also gets to kick
in Anissegos’ words, ‘a floating and performances, yet while a juicy off with a meditative solo, since the
breathing architecture’. vibrato is never far away it’s not 13th was dedicated to the Beethoven
Overall it’s a captivating account, unthinkingly applied. Tempos are Quartet’s first viola player, Vadim
beautifully recorded with a dry steady yet nicely sprung, with the Borisovsky, and Shostakovich gives
immediacy that places the listener exception of the racing finale of him the lead (in the 14th, the cellist
inside the sound. Steph Power the Divertimento, which is a bit of dominates, going expressively
PERFORMANCE HHHH a scramble. above the first violin at crucial
RECORDING HHHHH Listened to straight through, the points). The other players then take
disc feels a little relentless. Perhaps us into even more rarefied realms;
Mozart that has something to do with the with this group, and thanks to the
String Quartet No. 14 in G, empty-hall resonance, closeness dynamic and tonal range of Linn’s
K387; Divertimento in F, K138; and forward nature of the recording; engineering, pianissimo has a cusp-
String Quartet No. 15 perhaps the balance lacks a little of-silence significance.
in D minor, K421 subtlety; or perhaps, despite those There’s no doubt that the spirit
Quatuor Van Kuijk springy tempos, the Van Kuijks are is still embodied by the current
Alpha Classics ALPHA 551 67:24 mins relishing each note and spelling Fitzwilliams, though I’d like a little
Three years after out every phrase when it would be more lightness and colour-palette in
their last Mozart wiser to let a few of them just flow. the 14th’s first movement; again, its
disc, rising stars Still, even if they are enjoying all this interior monologues have all
the Van Kuijk a little, that doesn’t mean we can’t the power of Shakespearean
Quartet tackle enjoy it too. Erica Jeal soliloquy. Fierce pizzicatos keep
two more of the PERFORMANCE HHH the normally tranquil F sharp
half-dozen quartets that Mozart RECORDING HHHH major close on the rack until the
dedicated to Haydn in the early very end; conversely, warm vibrato
1780s. In between comes the F major Shostakovich makes the opening movement of
Divertimento written when the String Quartets Nos 13-15 the 15th Quartet more poignant
composer was just 16, a simpler Fitzwilliam String Quartet and personal than the deadpan
but no less effective piece that here Linn CKD 612 85:61 mins delivery, like an impersonal chant,
gets just as rich-toned and meaty For the of interpreters like the Borodin
a performance. Fitzwilliam Quartet. Shostakovich’s famous
Throughout, one is aware Quartet, the comment about playing it ‘so that
that here are four outstanding adventure began the flies on the ceiling drop dead
musicians, playing four outstanding in 1972 when of boredom’ certainly doesn’t
instruments. The sound is warm Shostakovich apply here, and I think I prefer the
and vibrant, the atmosphere visited them in York around the humanity; there’s enough harrowing
focused and intense, although first performances in the west of in the later stages of the work.
not exclusively so: the trio in the his 13th Quartet. Alan George, the David Nice
Menuetto of K421, where the first only remaining member of the PERFORMANCE HHHH
violinist sketches graceful trapeze original group, which nominally RECORDING HHHHH
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 87