Brian O'Kane cello, Alasdair Beatson piano
29th January 2010
| Bach | Suite for solo cello No 3 in C. |
| Beethoven | Cello sonata No 5 in D, Op 102 No 2. |
| Webern | Three small pieces for cello and piano, Op 11. |
| Brahms | Cello sonata No 2 in F, Op 99. |
The first concert of the New Year featured, appropriately enough, two young and promising artists - Brian O’Kane, cello, and pianist Alasdair Beatson. These young men have each had prizes aplenty and prestigious offers before them. They are, like so many of their contempories, cool but not flip. And they brought this to their music leavened with a rare musical discipline, preparation and a very high standard of ensemble playing.
The
recital began with Brian O’Kane playing the suite for solo cello No
3 in C. An interesting choice this as the original manuscripts for
the suites have never been found, only copies made by Anna Magdalena
Bach’s third wife and one of his pupils. These copies are without
phrasing and dynamics and are thus open to interpretation. Casals,
who discovered them in the early 1900s, chose the richly romantic
path which is not to today’s taste. As a further complication, one
Australian academic has suggested that they were in fact written by
Anna Magdalena! O’Kane chose to go back to what was probably in the
composer’s mind and played an intensely felt but closely controlled
piece. This he did quite convincingly.
The pair then tackled Beethoven and Brahms - in ascending order of romanticism - with the same determination not to allow the heart to rule the musical head. Beethoven, of course was at the beginning of the turning away from the baroque style, and Brahms at its full flowering. In all this they displayed a fine ensemble, and the pianist particularly was sensitive to his fellow player’s musical needs.
Between the Beethoven and the Brahms the one composer out of step in this programme was of course Webern who broke the ice after the interval. The pieces were short, triste, bare and perhaps an effective contrast with the Brahms that immediately followed.
There was an encore: Prelude by the Irish composer E.J. Moeran -- an evocation of a seashore, of light and of beauty. The audience responded warmly to these two artists. Their careers will be well worth watching.
Reviewer: Stanley Coward
Photographer: David James