Lammermuir Festival: Beethoven Violin Sonatas
North Esk Church, Musselburgh - 17/09/22
The North Esk Church in Musselburgh was the venue on the afternoon of 17th September for violin and piano virtuosi Viviane Hagner and Till Fellner in a programme of Schubert and Webern, sandwiched between two Beethoven sonatas.
Most of Beethoven’s violin sonatas are more properly “sonatas for violin and piano”, as the role of the piano is not mere accompanist but of equal prominence in the music-making. The third of the Op.30 set is a 3-movement work in G major and is classic early Beethoven, optimistic and confident with sprightly inventive melodies, frequent off-the-beat accents and an air of playful mischief. The playing in the Allegro assai was bright and agile, with mutually responsive playful phrasing. The ‘slow’ movement, an exaggeratedly graceful minuet with phrases alternating between major and minor, was equally playful and when, in one variation, the violin plays triplets, managed to sound like a fast minuet, very elegantly performed. The Allegro vivace finale, in the character of a Gypsy rondo, was no less witty and performed with a sense of fun. It is a super piece and a great choice of concert-opener.
Schubert’s ‘Arpeggione’ Sonata in A minor, written for an odd hybrid instrument, six-stringed with frets like a guitar, but held like a viola da gamba and played with a bow, has thankfully escaped the oblivion of the instrument by being transcribed for other instruments, including violin, viola and cello. It is a delightful (if slightly odd) piece, full of Schubertian melodic inventiveness and the occasional hint of wistful melancholy. It appears to be enjoying a renewed popularity on Radio 3 at present, most often in the cello version, though I confess to preferring it played on the violin. It received a sensitive performance. Subtle tenuto in the melodic sections of the first movement made them sing expressively, while the rapid runs were agile and virtuosic. The Adagio benefitted from a perfect choice of tempo, sweet tone to heighten the pathos and a clever use of sul tasto and sul ponticello to vary the voice and add drama, with time standing still at the end of the movement, leading straight into the Allegretto finale, elegant cantabile playing at first, then an exciting faster section, agile with great poise and super bow control, returning to the minor key and winding down to reaffirm Schubert’s customary pathos, sealed with a final minor cadence.
Webern’s Four Pieces Op.7 are a model of conciseness and resemble minimalist line drawings that convey an essence of form with little more than a gesture. Special effects, such as bowing close to the bridge or the fingerboard and the playing of harmonics, are used to great effect. They were played with great skill by the partnership of two players.
Beethoven’s last sonata, Op.96, is also in G major but has four movements and is a very different work from the last Op.30, marking as it does the end of his ‘middle period’. In the first movement, for example, the themes are more expansive and Beethoven devotes more time to structure and development. The melody of the slow movement is elegant and rewards sweet cantabile playing (which it received), but I find it ultimately emotionally uninvolving. The scherzo is brief but highly charged and was played with great skill by both players. The finale, a quite ordinary theme with seven extremely inventive variations, was played with total commitment and consummate artistry, but I think I have to just accept that this is never going to be my favourite Beethoven sonata.
Nonetheless, this was a super performance by two very fine musicians.