Darlington Ensemble
Eileen Joyce Studio, UWA
reviewed by John Meyer
The November concert saw Associate Concertmaster of WASO, Semra Lee-Smith (a founding member of the Darlington Ensemble) join with associate artist Gladys Chua in an attractive programme of works for violin and piano. The two most substantial pieces were sonatas by Brahms and Debussy, composed about thirty years apart but inhabiting quite different sound worlds. In the Sonata in A major by Brahms (1886), both performers were able to balance an often full-bodied sound with the essentially song-like character of the work. In this sonata, the middle movement is an interesting combination of slow movement and scherzo and the alternations between the two were deftly handled. Altogether a very satisfying performance of a work that is perhaps not heard as often as the other two sonatas by Brahms, but deserves to be.
With the concert taking place on the actual centenary of the Armistice which ended World War I in 1918, it was appropriate to hear the last work that Debussy completed before his death in that same year. Its elusive form, fragmented melodies and distinctive harmonies were captured just as well as the late Romanticism of Brahms had been.
Framing the sonatas by these German and French composers were shorter pieces by two Austrian Ks – Korngold and Kreisler. Korngold’s Garden Scene comes from the incidental music he wrote for Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing (incidentally, also composed in 1918), originally for small orchestra but with this intermezzo later arranged by the composer as an extended piece for violin and piano. Its rather sentimental lyricism foreshadows his successful film music as well as his later, increasingly popular Violin Concerto.
Praeludium and Allegro in the Style of Pugnani is one of Kreisler’s ‘pastiche’ pieces. Strong playing in the prelude led to rapid passage-work in the Allegro, culminating in a crowd-pleasing climax. An encore may have been called for, but having played for nearly an hour without a break – save for an explanation of colleagues having to withdraw for various genuine reasons – it was probably better for the audience to leave satisfied but wanting more. Well done, Semra and Gladys!
