Sonata (1917) - Debussy
Sonata in C (1782) - Mozart
Sonata (2001) - Urs Peter Schneider
Sonata in D minor (1851) - Schumann
It is not wise to attach pictorial values to music, but, as I listened to Gwendolin Masin playing Debussy's Sonata, I thought of paintings by Renoir: there were the same gentle tones, the same caressing of line. And when there was need of something bolder, she had the resources to move into the world of Manet, thus providing welcome contrasts that never became contradictions. Urs Peter Schneider at the piano was a sympathetic accompanist.
Mozart's Sonata in C was played in straightforward fashion; while nothing was taken away nothing was added, and without the touch of lustre that performers can give, the work failed to inspire.
Schneider introduced his own Sonata by saying it was not a Sonata, just four short pieces, a presentation of material - nothing to be frightened of - and he advised the audience to relax, but listen attentively just the same. The material was treated in a rather minimalist way, with a fair amount of repetition and the performance was, like the music, unemphatic.
Schumann's Sonata No. 2 in D minor, written in those crowded years before his descent into madness and his death at the age of 46, shows no signs of aberration. It displays a warmth of feeling and a liveliness that belies the composer's age and stressful condition, and the performers matched these conditions intuitively.
It beautifully balanced the Debussy at the beginning of last Friday's lunchtime recital at the NCH John Field Room, bringing out a common vein of romanticism and a shared appreciation of the way violin and piano can support each other.
