Beethoven
Cello Sonata No 5 in G minor, Op 5 No 2
Shostakovich
Piano Trio No 2 in E minor, Op 67
Schumann Violin Sonata No 1 in A minor, Op 105
Mendelssohn Piano Trio No 1 in D minor, Op 49
Janine Jansen
violin
Mischa Maisky
cello
Martha Argerich
piano
Barbican Hall, London, 6 February 2018
****************
For an artist who enjoys performing
chamber music so much, London’s opportunities to hear the great Martha
Argerich outside concertos are surprisingly rare. So a packed Barbican
Hall awaited this concert with much interest.
For many years, Argerich partnered with
Mischa Maisky, Gidon Kremer and Yuri Bashmet in the chamber repertoire.
Here, Maisky and Argerich were joined by Dutch violinist Janine Jansen,
herself a leading soloist of a younger generation.
Janine Jansen |
Maisky is as well known a figure for
cellists as Argerich is for pianists. An extraordinary life story
includes growing up in Latvia, being taught by two giants of the
instrument: Mstitslav Rostropovich and Gregor Piatigorsky, imprisonment
in the Soviet Union after his sister left to Israel, release after
several years and a splendid career. His musical style is big and
romantic and his dress style more than a little 70s Frank Zappa
eccentric with split flares and flamboyant blouse tops.
A night of many musical splendours was
guaranteed with artists of this calibre, to what extent it gelled was an
open question. The Shostakovich was the biggest triumph, its
mechanistic savagery, sadness and eerie harmonics extraordinarily
intense in the hands of these masters. Elsewhere Jansen and Argerich
did not seem fully aligned in the Schumann and Maisky’s broad
musicianship was put quite in the shade by Argerich’s phenomenal
dispatch of the piano part in the Beethoven.
Argerich was, as ever, a wonder. The
vitality and musicality of all she did was life-enhancing and of
overwhelming intensity. Her piano sang, rested, flashed and darted.
Beside her Maisky could seem lead footed. But
Jansen has a creamy, close vibrato and projected effortlessly in the
large hall. She gave every impression of
being able to match Argerich’s quicksilver moods with her violin.
With time this trio could really build
rapport. As it stands, it felt that Argerich was holding court, Maisky
was fixed in zen-like calm, and Jansen was obviously the new comer.
Certainly she was not helped by Argerich’s bluff approach
once the music stopped. Each time the three walked off stage was a
minor comic masterpiece; Jansen trying to defer, Argerich stopping and
starting, Maisky meandering and staying out of it.
Maisky and Argerich in earlier days |
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