BY JO ST LEON
Natalie Clein and Katya Apekisheva
Musica Viva Tasmania
Hobart Town Hall, 2 March
Natalie Clein and Katya Apekisheva presented a wonderfully varied program for Musica Viva at the Hobart Town Hall on Saturday night. Clein talked about the importance of storytelling in music, and they gave us a journey through music history with emotions and tonal contrasts telling a vivid tale. Perhaps it was the acoustic of the town hall, but there were occasional issues of balance and clarity in an otherwise outstanding evening of music-making.
The duo opened with Zoltan Kodaly’s 1922 Sonatina for Cello and Piano. Originally written as a replacement first movement for his 1910 sonata, the movement now exists as a work in its own right. Right from the opening piano flourish, I was captivated. The music was an appealing combination of lyricism and drama with the distinctive folk flavour of Kodaly’s native Hungary.
Natalie Williams’ piece The Dreaming Land was commissioned specially for this Musica Viva tour. It was a wonderfully evocative work which spoke vividly of the vastness of the Australian landscape, with the two instrumentalists on a timeless journey through space and history. The program notes for the work describe the cello as narrator and the piano as companion, and this feeling came across very markedly. I especially loved the middle movement with the haunting sounds of Clein’s cello encapsulating the experience of the lone traveller.
Beethoven’s Sonata No.2 in D major, Op.102 was the highlight of the evening for me. The opening of the slow movement was particularly magical, with a tone quality from both players that almost had me holding my breath in wonder and awe. The intimacy they created was so intensely private that as a listener, I felt like a privileged eavesdropper.
Lastly, there was Rachmaninov’s towering sonata, described by Clein as a piano sonata with cello. For many, this was the outstanding work of the evening, with the passionate romanticism of the work given full expression by both musicians. Apekisheva displayed strength, virtuosity and emotional commitment whilst at the same time returning sometimes to the intimacy of the Beethoven.
Clein and Apekisheva had an incredible array of tone colours, both individually and as a duo. Their music soared, cried, sang, and celebrated in equal measure. Their demonstrative performance told of a physical as well as emotional response to the music that did great justice to the commitment and passion of these fine musicians.
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Images supplied, courtesy Musica Viva.
