Performed and recorded live on the 7th August at St Luke's Church in London, two members of The London Symphony Orchestra gave a live performance to a sadly once again completely empty concert hall.
Rhys Watkins (violin) and Rowena Calvert (cello) performed 6 pieces in all, inroduced expertly, intelligently and knowledgably by Watkins, in a concert which, coronavirus notwithstanding, should have been full to the brim with chamber-music-loving audience members. Once again, it was odd to see the musicians acknowledge an empty space and I found myself once again clapping loudly at my computer screen at the end of each piece.
The duo started with my least favourite piece of their concert, Scarlatti's Sonata K1 in D. Not only am I not a huge fan of Baroque and early Classical music, but also Scarlatti unfortunately for him holds a special place of hatred in my heart since I was force-fed his piano music by my sadistic piano teacher when young! However, I was very quickly appeased, since the second piece on the menu was another work by a composer I had only been introduced to in the LSO's previous Summer Shorts concert, and absolutely loved the work. Here then was my second piece by Polish composer Wieniawski which again was quite delightful. This, his Etude Caprice in G (op18 no 1) was not perhaps quite as fantastic as his 'Polonaise' was last week, but very enjoyable nonetheless.
Following this was the sublime and simply beautiful arrangement of 'Deep River' by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, before listening to yet another set of variations on perhaps classical music's most used melody, Paganini's Caprice no 24. Here though, Simon Parkin's variations take on a life all of their own; and despite many other composers trying their hand at writing a set of variations on this famous theme (including both Rachmaninov and Lloyd-Webber, up until this point my two favourite versions) Parkins's fun, showy-offy bravura style was magnetic and has gone straight up there with my top aforementioned top two!
A very melodic and deeply contrasting piece followed: contemporary Latvian composer Peteris Vasks's 'Castillo Interior'. The music which celebrates the life of the Spanish Saint Teresa d'Avila is almost like two pieces in one. Part plainchant-like spiritual and meditative slow and progressive harmony combined with sections of loud frantic thrashing, which sounded to me like perhaps the dance of the devil.
Finishing with another showpiece showstopper, Simon Parkins's arrangement of Monti's Hungarian 'Czardas', the selection showed a huge variation in boith style and technique, with a level of technical difficulty for the violinist which most wouldn't even entertain, so hats off to Watkins! Another hugely enjoyable concert.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 14/8/20
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