Sunday 16 June 2013

A first class return


Carlina Carr returned to Christ Church on Saturday (see earlier post for her previous visit), this time with cellist Ian Burdge.  And a first class return it certainly was, hugely appreciated by our audience.

The programme comprised sonatas by Beethoven, Debussy and Brahms.  The Beethoven was played with great delicacy and precision, bringing out beautifully the character of a work which at times seems to look back to the earlier classical age of Mozart and Haydn while yet being unmistakably romantic in character.  The Brahms sonata with which the evening finished is much lusher in texture and here the tone of Ian's late 18th century cello was simply delicious!

In between came Debussy's sonata from 1915, for me the highlight of the evening.  It is one of his last works, written as he was dying from cancer and against the backdrop of the First World War.  Again it nods to the past, in this case the French school of Rameau and his contemporaries.  But the soundscape is very modern indeed, showing Debussy even at the end of his life pushing tonality to the very limit and striving for a new form of expression.  Astonishing music!

So thanks to Ian and Carlina, and as usual there are more photos on the second tab (above).








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