Risely, Till concert

Press, 21 May 1988, Page 8

Risely, Till concert

■ Martin Risely, violin, with Maurice Till, piano, in the Great Hall, Friday, May 20, 1.10 p.m. Reviewed by Nan Anderson.

. Martin Risely deserved a much bigger ; audience for this recital. At 19, he • already has some impressive achieveI ments to his credit, and this programme • left one in no doubt that he has a very ’ bright future. - There were no easy options in the ! choice of works. Mozart’s Sonata in A, K > 526, Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 Op.l, and ‘ the Bach Partita No. 2 in D minor, even ■ without the fifth movement — the ‘ mighty Chaconne — would test older, . more established artists. • It was interesting to hear the first four • movements of the second Partita, which • tend to be overshadowed by the ’ Chaconne. They are just as much a ■ challenge to the performer’s technique i and musical understanding — a chalu lenge to reveal to the listener the wealth ; o f emotion as well as thought within the - nolvphonic writing. Apart from a little : untidiness in the gigue the playing was • secure and resonant, the allemande and Z sarabande being played with particular • Rurally speaking, the famous caprice

followed a shade too hard upon the Bach, and one would have preferred the two minor tonalities to be separated. Moreover, it required something of an intellectual leap to move so quickly from the baroque profundity of Bach to the romantic virtuosity of Paganini. Martin Risely can be commended for mastering this music as well as he has done. It exploits almost every technical device of modern violin performance — double and triple stops, left-hand pizzicati, octave passages among others — and most of these were handled with a high degree of digital and bow dexterity. The Mozart A major Sonata is considered by some to be the greatest of his violin sonatas. It poses some problems in the final rondo, where the busy and virtuosic piano part tends to overshadow the violin. Even the skilled and experienced hands of Maurice Till could not always lighten the piano texture to allow the violin to project. But over all, it was a satisfying performance. From the lively syncopation of. the first movement, through the lyrical dialogues of the second to the brilliant figurations of the elaborate coda, this was Mozart apt for the late 1 twentieth century assertive and vibrant.