Violin Sonatas 1-3 . . . . . Brahms
The complete violin sonatas of Brahms in a single recital from Catherine Leonard should have made for a rewarding evening. She is, after all, the leading violinist of the younger generation in Ireland, a musician whose playing is typically both thoughtful and touching. But Tuesday evening's offering of all three works at the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre was a thoroughly frustrating affair. The faults were not to be laid at the door of the violinist. The culprit was her partner, the pianist, Julian Milford.
On one level, Milford's playing was both intelligent and perceptive. It was obvious that he had scanned Brahms's piano parts in fine detail, and he delivered the results of his deliberation with consistency and care.
Unfortunately, he read most of Brahms's horizontalised harmonic patterns as if they were important independent melodies. In this form they not only cluttered the texture but frequently competed with - and sometimes obscured - obviously more important material which the composer had entrusted to the violin. Robust Brahms playing is something I would normally welcome. But, given Milford's perspective on the content of his part, the piano playing was mostly too loud, and often sounded lumpy, through emphases which fell in unwanted places.
With remarkable composure, Ms Leonard managed to retain that natural directness of statement and sentiment which is her particular musical gift. I suspect that, given the topsy-turvy, piano-dominated balance the audience was presented with, she herself may have been the only person present to experience these sonatas something close to the proportions the composer surely intended.
