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Presented by the Early Music Society of the Islands
Alix Goolden Performance Hall
February 18, 2006
From the opening notes of the Largo movement of Bach's fourth Sonata for violin and harpsichord, it was evident that we were in for a treat. Rachel Podger and Gary Cooper got to the heart of this aching movement, employing subtle and natural rubato to create some wonderfully musical phrasing. The final movement of the sonata is marked Allegro, and was tackled with gusto. The audience had sat in silence for the sonata's duration, but erupted in vigourous applause before the final notes had finished reverberating around the hall.
After opening with a brilliant performance of a masterpiece, one was afraid of what awaited on the remainder of the programme. With two juvenile compositions by Mozart and a host of pieces by lesser-known composers, the rest of the concert could have been a significant let-down. But by balancing a pedantic theme (with frequent speeches to the audience that mixed personal anecdotes, witty stories, and concrete information in equal measure) with some delightful music, Podger and Cooper provided an evening of enlightenment and entertainment.
The two solo works were arguably the next-best things on the programme; they were certainly the ones that placed the greatest technical demands on the performers. Podger's reading of the Telemann Fantasia No.2 was nothing short of brilliant, and instead of calling to mind Bach's earlier works for solo violin, we instead heard a Baroque-era Paganini, full of splashy virtuosity and rustic charm.
Prior to playing the Johann Christian Bach Sonata, Cooper mentioned it is both suitable and historically correct to play it on either a harpsichord or a fortepiano, since the publisher sold it that way. Under Cooper's fingers the central Adagio movement was sublime. The highlight was the closing Prestissimo, which Cooper played at a blazing tempo. He never lost control, and while accepting the delighted applause of the audience, fanned the strings of the harpsichord with his score.
The two Mozart sonatas were written when he was eight and nine years of age, and were showcases for the boy-wonder's keyboard skills. While not plumbing the depths of the human spirit that his mature masterworks explore, they are (of course) full of delightful melodies, and are nothing if not charming.
But the discoveries were the pieces by de Mondonville, and the unprogrammed encore by Jacques Duphly. In his remarks prior to playing the first of the two de Mondonville sonatas, Cooper described them as salon music written for the "talented amateur" of the time. They were absolutely charming, with lively closing movements and beautiful -- and beautifully rendered -- central Aria movements.
Like the singing lines that open Bach's sonata at the beginning of the programme and the Aria movements from de Mondonville sonatas, the Duphly aria that closed the evening emphasized Podger's beautiful phrasing and Cooper's sensitive support, and made the song "Ah! que vos charmes" absolutely ravishing.
That Rachel Podger and Gary Cooper form a tremendous partnership was more than evident throughout the evening, where the body language (including shared smiles) spoke of their shared joy in making this wonderful music. One only hopes that they continue to play as a duo, and continue their exploration of the violin sonata repertoire of the Baroque and Classical eras.
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