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Phillip T Young Recital Hall
December 6, 2021
The conventional wisdom would have it that in his first published works Beethoven — to quote Sieghard Brandenburg — "based himself principally on the example of Mozart".
While, strictly speaking, this is no doubt the case, it also tends to overlook the way that Beethoven's personality is discernible even in his earliest music. It is as if he is telling the listener that, yes, he is prepared to adopt the syntax of his predecessors, for now, but to be prepared to "Fasten your seatbelts; it's going to be a bumpy night".
Thus arises the great challenge in approaching early Beethoven: playing the music so that it sounds neither like Mozart and Haydn, nor the mature Beethoven.
I am delighted, therefore, to report that, in the first of their four recitals traversing the complete cycle of Beethoven's violin sonatas, Jonathan Crow and Arthur Rowe steered a very successful course between the Scylla of "prettifying" the music and the Charybdis of imposing too much weight upon it.
This was immediately apparent from the very first bars of the first sonata, Op.12 No.1 in D: the bold opening statement, the exquisitely poised theme, Crow's rich tone, Rowe's crisply elegant legato; all-in-all a marvellous combination of vigour and lyricism. The ensuing theme and variations was playful, with even the minor key variation not trying too hard. And I especially enjoyed the restrained exuberance of the finale, with its typical early Beethoven rondo theme and a delightful bounce to the rhythm.
Op.12 No.2 in A followed, its impetuous opening beginning to hint at what was to come later in the composer's career. There was a wonderfully feline grace to the start of the development section and another suggestion that Beethoven was seeking to subvert the form. The second movement was thoughtful with a lovely cantabile from both players, while the lilting and jovial finale led to a nicely humorous close.
I think it was an excellent notion to "skip ahead" slightly for the final work on the programme, leaving Op.12 No.3 and Op.23 for another day and giving us what is probably the most popular sonata of the ten, the "Spring" Sonata, Op.24.
This was an especially convincing performance, most definitely vernal in nature, with — as, indeed, throughout the evening — superb balance between the two players; moreover, the first movement was imbued with a fine sense of forward momentum, achieved with no actual accelerando. Comparatively early it may be, yet there was no doubting that this music was one hundred per cent echt Beethoven.
The slow movement brought pellucid tone from Rowe, some delicious double stopping from Crow and a wonderfully singing tone when the violin took up the melody. The movement was concentrated and mesmerising.
After the brief, puckish scherzo (one of Beethoven's shortest movements in any form), the finale's characteristic theme signalled that this is, indeed, a more relaxed sonata altogether. The exuberantly decorated version of the main theme was a particular delight.
The "Spring" sonata should, and surely would, have left even the most fastidious music lover thoroughly satisfied, but Crow and Rowe had one more bon-bon up their sleeves, in the shape of the Rondo WoO.41 (WoO is "werke ohne opuszahl", "works without opus number", although this piece, composed in about 1792, was actually published by Simrock in 1808).
This proved a charming, albeit slight, work; once again the pair exhibited beautiful tone colours, coupled with a finely-judged rubato.
I had hoped, when this series was announced, to attend all four recitals. Alas that intention was, to quote the late Michael Nesmith, "by cruel circumstances denied" (ironically, Nesmith passed away between this recital and my writing this review).
Similarly, cruel circumstances denied Jonathan Crow and Arthur Rowe the opportunity for a full rehearsal schedule and I know that they felt that not everything they played was equally successful.
I can only, of course, speak to their performance of the opening programme, but that one, to my ears, was exceptional. Despite their lack of adequate rehearsal time, despite difficult personal circumstances, their programme struck me as being very finely done indeed.
Altogether an outstanding evening's musicmaking.
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