THE FINAL CONCERT OF SEASON 23/24
HUGH MACKAY CELLO AND JUNYAN CHEN PIANO
Fountainhall at the Cross Church
Monday 18th March 2024
PROGRAMME:
Claude Debussy (1862 -1919)
Sonata for cello and piano in d minor (1915)
1.Prologue: Lent, sostenuto e molto 2. Sérénade 3. Final: Animé, léger et nerveux.
Dimitri Shostakovich (1905 – 1975)
Sonata for cello and piano in d minor, Op.48
1. Moderato 2. Moderato con moto 3. Largo 4. Allegro
Fazil Say (b. 1970)
Dört Şehir (Four Cities) Sivas, Hopa, Ankara, Bodrum.
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873 – 1943)
Sonata for cello and piano in g minor, Op.19
1. Lento-Allegro moderato 2. Allegro Scherzando 3. Andante 4. Allegro mosso
REVIEW:
Scottish cellist Hugh Mackay and Shanghai born pianist Junyan Chen crowned our final concert of the current season with four performances of mind-blowing virtuosity. Hugh Mackay was the irrefutable master of his instrument while Junyan Chen’s piano playing was perfectly balanced with the cellist. She was able to offer generous layers of rhythmic and melodic colour to the cello parts, never for a moment drowning them. It was only in the final work, Rachmaninov’s Sonata for cello and piano in g minor that thanks to the composer, himself a renowned pianist, that Junyan was allowed to take off musically for the pianistic stars, which she did magnificently.
The performance opened with a stunningly brilliant account of Debussy’s extraordinary Sonata for cello and piano in d minor. Debussy demands of the cello an incredible range of varied sound qualities, from gentle sweeping melody, to many kinds of pizzicatos, runs replied to by the piano, or bowing that could be sweepingly melodic, charged with vigour, dance-like, or then again delicately well-controlled. Hugh leaned into his cello to bring out its many voices which Debussy asks for in this piece. As I have already said, Junyan’s lit up the cello music with well-matched rays of piano light.
The next two works were also full of contrasting varieties of cello and piano sound. The Sonata for cello and piano in d minor Op.40 by Shostakovich began with romantic sounding melodic playing, not always associated with this composer. Hugh Mackay made that melodic content grow and come fully alive with impassioned playing. The playing then grew more rhythmic and vigorous with the piano bringing out a melodic quality that was more like what one expects from Shostakovich, reminiscent of his symphonic writing. This extensive movement was followed by a wild and fiercely intense scherzo. Both cello and piano were startlingly energetic. The programme note mentions ‘cello arpeggios in icy harmonics’ these made me sit bolt upright. They were like nothing else I had ever heard. How wonderful was that? Hugh began the third movement Largo using a mute making it sound gentle and perhaps distant, then without the mute, the music became heartfelt and sorrowful before the mute returned to suggest coming darkness at the end of the movement. The final Allegro opened brightly with the cello sounding light and happy. However Shostakovich does not often sound unalloyed in cheerfulness and the music became intense with ferocious bowing. All the same, the piano came dancing through joined by the cello. Is there sometimes a touch of anger in Shostakovich’s happier music? I found this a fascinating performance.
Yes, Shostakovich’s Sonata had great variety of cello sound but the next piece went way beyond what we had heard in those first two pieces. This was Dört Şehir (Four Cities) by the Turkish Composer Fazil Say. This, as far as I can remember, was the first music I had ever heard by a Turkish composer. I was delighted. I remember the feelings I had when I first heard music by Mahler and Bruckner. For me in my mid teens they sounded wonderful and new. Now reaching almost eighty, I got that feeling of ‘Wow! This is something new. Like nothing I’ve ever heard before’. This music certainly had an eastern flavour, but most of all, it was astonishingly colourful. Monday’s two performers bought out those colours with sensational brilliance. The first town was Sivas. It began with gentle piano and pizzicato guitar-like cello. The bowed cello had an eastern sounding melody and above it tinkling piano that made me think of sparkling starlight. Flowing piano melody was joined by virtuoso cello.
Hopa the second town brought to the surface traditional Turkish Wedding music. Fast dancing bowing, becoming wild in its liveliness was backed by crashing piano chords.
The Longest and most amazing music came with Ankara. Deep mechanical piano notes were blended with long dark cello sweeps, sounding almost threatening. Sad upper tune on cello were partnered with light piano chords sounding strangely distant. Junyan sometimes muted her piano sounds with fingers on the strings inside the piano. All sorts of cello sounds including slaps and ever growing variety. Were these sounds in memory of wartime. We needed something lighter to finish the work. What could have been better than Bodrum with its jazzy sounds and according to the programme note ‘its depiction of a pub brawl’. British holidaymakers perhaps?
The final piece was the Sonata for cello and piano in g minor Op. 19 by Rachmaninov. It opened with gentle cello which Hugh made to increase in depth of expressiveness. The Allegro brought forth wonderfully fluent piano playing from Junyan, very Rachmaninov. Above that, the cello sang out deliciously, giving Hugh the opportunity to demonstrate the sheer beauty of his cello tone. A dramatic- romantic dance brought the first movement to its close. The second movement brought forth exciting fast piano playing and urgent cello playing contrasted with moments of romantic music for cello and piano. The piano opened the Andante with full throated Rachmaninov melody followed seductively by the cello. The extensive Finale gave us romantic Rachmaninov at his best played alluringly by Hugh and Junyan. They had well and truly romanced Monday’s audience who gave them at least three thunderous ovations, thus bringing our current season to a rapturous conclusion.
ALAN COOPER