Brilliant young duo
Recital: Melanie Clapies and Celimente Daudet, St James Cavalier
The French Embassy and Alliance Francaise de Malte presented a marvellous violin and piano duo recital at the Music Room, St James' Cavalier. Pianist Celimene Daudet is no newcomer to Malta, having taken part last season in an acclaimed two-piano recital with Maltese pianist Stefan Cassar at the Manoel. This time she confirmed her musicianship and pianism in a rather different role - accompanist in part and practically equal partner in another.
The latter was often obvious in Mozart's Sonata in E minor, K.304 where the piano has a prominent part and shares in the projection of the particularly emotional and mature ripeness of this work. In the first of its two movements there was a wide spectrum of feeling, tension and drama not lacking but also a charming grace and touches of pathos. The concluding minuet, despite this tempo indication has some more significant and highly charged moments which were well shaped and contrasted well with some really beautiful moments in a major key.
The rest of the first half of the programme was devoted to French music. It began with Ravel's rarely heard Sonate posthume, written in 1897 and not performed or published until 1975! The treatment of the two instruments was often practically equal, delving into a different sound world to that still ringing in the ears after the Mozart sonata. There was enough evidence of the experiments with interacting levels of sound typical of that period in Ravel's life. This combined the eventual increasingly passionate voice of the violin with lovely cascading piano playing, which from a rather hushed beginning progressively reached well-wrought climaxes.
After this highly revealing work came Debussy's Sonata. This is the third and last of the six originally planned for various combinations of instruments towards the end of the composer's life. This highly polished performance reflected the fluidity and smoothness of texture which characterises the music right from the start. In the intermezzo an added exotic touch is provided by a recurrent Spanish stamp, especially in the second theme of the intermezzo and the rhythmic structure of the concluding tres animé. As for the recital's concluding work, this was the amazing mature Sonata n.3 by the Romanian composer Gheorghe Enescu. The exotic effects there definitely have their roots in Romanian folk music with all its languor and passion. A mix of these two elements dominated the first movement, which was to lead to a paradoxically charged, yet restrained conclusion. Something akin to Bartok coloured the central movement, with the violin's voice soaring above a very obstinate and percussive piano accompaniment. Although it developed into a wild dance, this too faded away on a thread.
For sheer pyrotechnics there was all that one wanted in the concluding movement with both performers displaying very admirable energy yet never losing an iota of clarity. It was like scaling a whole range of peaks, which could only result in an exhausting yet exhilarating experience.
The sole encore conceded, the beautifully interpreted Meditation from Massenet's Thais, could not have been more appropriate!
The latter was often obvious in Mozart's Sonata in E minor, K.304 where the piano has a prominent part and shares in the projection of the particularly emotional and mature ripeness of this work. In the first of its two movements there was a wide spectrum of feeling, tension and drama not lacking but also a charming grace and touches of pathos. The concluding minuet, despite this tempo indication has some more significant and highly charged moments which were well shaped and contrasted well with some really beautiful moments in a major key.
The rest of the first half of the programme was devoted to French music. It began with Ravel's rarely heard Sonate posthume, written in 1897 and not performed or published until 1975! The treatment of the two instruments was often practically equal, delving into a different sound world to that still ringing in the ears after the Mozart sonata. There was enough evidence of the experiments with interacting levels of sound typical of that period in Ravel's life. This combined the eventual increasingly passionate voice of the violin with lovely cascading piano playing, which from a rather hushed beginning progressively reached well-wrought climaxes.
After this highly revealing work came Debussy's Sonata. This is the third and last of the six originally planned for various combinations of instruments towards the end of the composer's life. This highly polished performance reflected the fluidity and smoothness of texture which characterises the music right from the start. In the intermezzo an added exotic touch is provided by a recurrent Spanish stamp, especially in the second theme of the intermezzo and the rhythmic structure of the concluding tres animé. As for the recital's concluding work, this was the amazing mature Sonata n.3 by the Romanian composer Gheorghe Enescu. The exotic effects there definitely have their roots in Romanian folk music with all its languor and passion. A mix of these two elements dominated the first movement, which was to lead to a paradoxically charged, yet restrained conclusion. Something akin to Bartok coloured the central movement, with the violin's voice soaring above a very obstinate and percussive piano accompaniment. Although it developed into a wild dance, this too faded away on a thread.
For sheer pyrotechnics there was all that one wanted in the concluding movement with both performers displaying very admirable energy yet never losing an iota of clarity. It was like scaling a whole range of peaks, which could only result in an exhausting yet exhilarating experience.
The sole encore conceded, the beautifully interpreted Meditation from Massenet's Thais, could not have been more appropriate!