Attractive trio recital

Press, 4 May 1981, Page 6

Attractive trio recital

By

ALLAN FRANCIS

A trio of piano, voice, and cello presented an attractive recital of songs and cello pieces at the Rugby Street Methodist Church yesterday. The trio comprised the visiting artists, Rosemary Ellis, vocalist, Judi Pattinson, cello, and John Pattinson, piano, and each showed above average understanding of the many and varied selfimposed tasks selected from the pens of Brahms, Mozart, Purcell, and Faure, to name but a few.

The husband and ... wife team of the Pattinson:; tackled the Brahms Sonata in F with all the vigour of Casals, laced with the mor i compromising poetry of Rostropovich. John and Judi Pattinson were blessed with a rapport absolutely essen-

tial in a demanding work, the centre piece for this duo, the others being usually encores. Boccherini’s Rondo, Saint-Saens’ Allegro Appassionato, and the lovely Elegie of Faure fitted this role admirably. Rosemary Ellis featured in the rest of the programme, embracing the songs of Purcell, Mozart, Cavalli, Walton et al. Tucked away in the Purcell bracket was the masterpiece, “Lord, What is Man, Lost Man,” a deeply felt poem translated accordingly by Miss Ellis: «' Mozart Heder is not your everyday stuff either, usually sung by a baritone (Hermann Prey), Rosemary Ellis was equally convincing with her interpretation with songs where the keynote remains a modesty of resource and expression. . The rich mezzo of Miss Ellis had the added advan-

tage of a still lower register, which was most impressive in the bracket of arias from Cavalli’s L’Ormindo and the Mozart Heder. Her first love remains firmly in the Baroque,' though, and if I had

to make the difficult decision I would plump for “Lord, What is Man” and the Cavalli selections as vying for her top honours. In all the instrumental duos the piano grabbed the initiative. John Pattinson’s playing was brisk and articulate — tenderly compatible in a supportive role and dominant in the duos.

The pizzicato opening the Adagio of the . Brahms’ Sonata heralded the most successful playing by the cellist, with her emotive interpretation of this and the noble Elegie of Faure. SaintSaens' quirky humour was captured by Judi Pattinson in the Allegro Appassionato.