Guest review by Anthony Hardwicke
Rosendal Chamber Music festival – Day 3
Some slight adjustments had to be made to the Saturday morning concert programme here at the Rosendal Chamber Music Festival because the trumpet player Hakan Hardenburger had been taken ill. Yeol-Eum Son and her husband Svetlin Roussev (who was travelling with Son, but not expecting to play) very gamely stepped in at late notice to play some Brahms: the F-A-E Scherzo for violin and piano. As you would expect of a husband and wife duo, they were very “together”! Roussev produced an exciting, focused sound, and Son was right with him adding to the intensity. They certainly make a charming couple.
After the Dover string quartet gave a compelling account of the A minor Brahms string quartet Op.51 No.2, Ligeti’s Trio for piano, violin and horn finished the concert. The response of this audience towards the more modern contemporary pieces so far in the festival had been somewhat cool, so I was delighted by how enthusiastically they reacted. We really were wowed by Bertrand Chamayou (piano), Guro Kleven Hagen (violin) and David Guerrier (horn).
The excitement started in the second movement with Chamayou’s rock solid but propulsive double ostinato. Leif Ove Andsnes said the pianist needs two brains to play this passage! Like a lot of Ligeti, this Trio gives virtuoso players an opportunity to push their instruments to the limits. Hagen’s unearthly vibrato-less harmonics climbed so high, my ears stopped being able to hear them! Guerrier’s rude, raspy low note at the end of the last movement seemed to rumble on for ever, and Chamayou punched some truly brutal sounds from the Steinway’s bottom few notes with finger and thumb together. What a treat to see such extravagant chamber music virtuosity!
The Cross-Eyed Pianist 