Stefan Dohr & Friends
Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, 10/8/24
Stefan Dohr (horn), Carolin Widmann (violin), Dênes Várjon (piano)
The Queen’s Hall recital of Saturday 10th was billed as ‘Stefan Dohr & Friends’. Principal hornist of the Berlin Philharmonic Stefan Dohr was joined by the German violinist (and sister of the clarinettist and composer Jörg Widmann) Carolin Widmann and Hungarian pianist Dênes Várjon in a performance of the headline work, Brahms’ scrumptious Horn Trio, at the end of the recital. The principal work in the first half was Ligeti’s 1982 Trio for the same instrumentation. A Beethoven sonata preceded each major work, the 1800 F-major Horn Sonata Op.17 before the Ligeti and the 1803 C-minor Violin Sonata Op.30 No.2 before the Brahms. Attendance was somewhat sparse.
A brief arpeggiated fanfare opened the horn sonata, the piano responding with a quite Mozartian melody which the horn then adopted. The second theme was more lyrical and was played with sweet cantabile phrasing, nuanced tenuto and elegantly shaped dynamics. The challenging key exploration and very virtuosic rapid arpeggiation of the development were negotiated with élan, as was the virtuosic coda. The short slow movement was in the style of a lovely lyrical Pavane. The Rondo finale theme was bright and breezy, with the challenges of the episodes skilfully met, before a stylish rallentando led to the final dashing coda. Excellent.
Stefan Dohr introduced the Ligeti, demonstrating the natural harmonics of the instrument with a quick virtuosic excerpt from the Beethoven without using the valves. Violinist and hornist played standing facing each other, each from sheet music ranged over two stands. The first movement (ironically marked ‘con tenerezza’, was a kind of “anti-chamber music”, with instruments playing expressively but without responding to each other, as if each was enveloped in private woes with no trace of empathy, reaching out but not making contact. The second movement was a very fast 2/2 scherzo with the 8 quavers grouped variously 3-3-2 and 3-2-3, giving a Brubeckish jazzy feel, with an ironic atonal lyricism, ending in a static high pianissimo over piano chords. The third movement, a quirky march subverted by more displaced accents, started on piano and violin. A central section featured slithering figures on violin and horn over piano comments. When the “march” returned, it was heckled by loud blasts on the horn and stopped abruptly. The elegiac Adagio finale began and ended softly with exploration of sonorities, including natural horn harmonics at the top and then bottom of its tonal range, slowly shifting double stopping on the violin and atmospheric chords on the piano, framing a climactic cathartic central section. A fascinating piece given a persuasive outing.
Carolin Widmann’s Guadagnini assumed a friendlier, more classical persona in the 4-movement Beethoven sonata, with a performance that emphasised communication and empathy. The first movement received an endearing quasi-operatic reading, the second theme suggestive of Mozart’s ‘Non più andrai’ and was very satisfying. The lovely major key slow movement seemed to anticipate the Romances for Violin and Orchestra, but also suggested a Mozart operatic love duet. The Scherzo, a fast minuet with displaced accents and bariolage, was stylishly delivered, as was the quirky Haydnesque Trio, with its disorienting seemingly irregular phrase lengths and key changes. The Allegro finale received a characterful reading of its playful, if demonic, quasi Hungarian dance. A warmly engaging performance very well received by the Queen’s Hall audience.
My regular readers will know the esteem in which I hold Brahms’ chamber music. The 1865 Horn Trio, which I first heard half a century ago on Radio 3, is no exception. Five years later, I heard it live in the RDS in Dublin, performed by the great Australian hornist Barry Tuckwell with his antipodean companions. ‘Stefan Dohr & Friends’ at the EIF is my first time since then hearing it live. Notwithstanding the ravages of time on my memory, this time was subjectively just as good. The wistfully elegiac first movement emphasised the ‘Friends’ in the recital’s headline, delivering a warm sense of mutual solace. Something of the spirit of Schumann haunts the brisk heroic Scherzo, the mutual solace emerging again in the Trio. The elegiac tenderness returned in the slow movement, with some impassioned grief expressed with consolation. I had never noticed before that the theme of the playful scampering finale appears foreshadowed in the darkest moments of the elegy. Exquisitely played. The finale swept us up in its joy-filled cross-country chase. Fabulous.
As the players bowed with arms around each other and the enthusiastic applause rang out, I realised that ‘Stefan Dohr & Friends’ included the audience. Rituals that unite us.