LUNCHTIME CONCERT: VIOLIN SONATAS
The Cambridge University Lunchtime Concert brought two very fine young musicians to the West Road stage. Sohan Kaurai (piano) and Leon Sturdee (violin) chose a very exciting and in some ways off-the-wall programme of violin sonatas. Both young men are from St John’s College which has a particularly good reputation for high music standards. This duo certainly confirmed this status. Their playing was mesmerising and they chose some really difficult pieces to present to a largely over 60s audience.
LEON STURDEE AND SOHAN KALIRAI
First off was a 1914 piece by Erik Satie that must win any ‘kookiest title in a sonata’ competition. ‘Chose Vues a Droite et a Gauche (sans lunettes)’ is a short work full of big gestures. The first of three movements is entitled, ‘Chorale hypocrite’ in which the French eccentric composer pokes fun at the Bach-style chorale. The programme pointed to Satie’s brash comment: My chorales equal those of Bach, with this difference: there are not many of them, and they are less pretentious’. Kaurai and Sturdee made an early mark on the piece with a youthful swagger and pinpoint playing. The next movements had equally strange titles: Groping Fugue and Muscular Fantasy. Again the musicianship of the pair was top quality and they brought out a crystal clear reading of Satie’s wacky sonata.
Next up was Schubert’s Violin Sonata in A minor D.385. This was beautifully played with lots of muscular delivery and at times fiery passion.
The Schubert brought forth the first applause of the audience and a general buzz of chatter. But this was rudely interrupted by a crashing G-minor chord on the piano. It was the best ‘shut up we’ve started’ signal I have heard in a long time. This was the opening of Alfred Schnitke’s second Violin Sonata written in 1968. This was a violin and piano work like no other and a fiercesome challenge for the players. They were well up to the challenge. It is an amazing work – a bruiser of a sonata full of crashing chords, hair-raising piano runs and a violin score that pushed the instrument to the limit. Sturdee had to create a whisper at the highest pitch imaginable – it was almost out of hearing range. Then there were some savage chords, eerie wailing half-tones and spooky slides. Though largely atonal, there were glimpses of melodic tonality including one part that sounded like a drunken hoe down. There were Stravinsky-like driving rhythms, moments of tense calm and exciting stop-starts. It was a never-a-dull moment sonata and the two St Johns players gave it all they got. It was a really exciting experience.
