Wigmore Hall
Violin Sonata in D major, KV
306/300l
Violin Sonata in F major, KV
376/374d
Variations on ‘Hélas, j’ai
perdu mon amant,’ KV 360/374b
Piano Sonata in B-flat major,
KV 570
Violin Sonata in E-flat
major, KV 481
Erich Höbarth (violin)
Susan Tomes (violin)
It was a delight to welcome
back Erich Höbarth and Susan Tomes to the Wigmore Hall, following an earlier all-Mozart recital last September. For just a few opening bars of the D major sonata, KV
306/300l, I was unsure about the
balance, Höbarth’s violin sounding a little too forward, but soon all was well.
Höbarth offered nicely modulated tone, born in part of intelligently varied
vibrato; Tomes’s piano part was clean, clear, equally pleasing in its attentive
though not fussy shading. This first movement proved predominantly sunny, the
stormy contrast of the development section well judged. Warm lyricism from both
players characterised the slow movement. Conversational rhetoric made its delightful
points, without detracting from overall structure. Again, the fine degrees of
shading from both Höbarth and Tomes impressed: not for its own sake, but for
the insight showed into Mozart’s music. Such qualities were equally apparent in
the finale. The tricky alternating metres were successfully navigated, not
least in a witty account of the cadenza. The first movement of the F major
sonata, KV 376/374d, showed itself by
turn radiantly lyrical and sensitively sinuous. Poised throughout, it was
nevertheless alert to the music’s sterner moments. The sophistication of Mozart’s
melodic and harmonic construction – when does one idea end and another begin? –
was perceptively and lovingly communicated in the Andante. Mozart’s abundant melodic genius was once again hymned in
the finale. Harmonic understanding was equally apparent, whether with a broader
brush or in the subtlety of the moment.
The second half opened with
the G minor Variations on ‘Hélas, j’ai perdu mon amant’. Mozart’s dignified
sadness in this tonality was readily apparent, as was a fine sense of give and
take, rubato included, between pianist and violinist. The performance
culminated in a dramatically vehement sixth variation. Why do we almost never
hear this wonderful music? Tomes then had the stage to herself for the B-flat
major Piano Sonata, KV 570. Her first movement upheld the balance between
Bachian counterpoint and sinuous melodic chromaticism. Voicing was clear, and
there was ample sense of formal dynamism. Above all, the deceptive ‘simplicity’
of this sonata and of late Mozart more generally was granted a voice. I
initially cavilled at the swift tempo for the slow movement; it is, after all,
marked Adagio. Yet it was made to
work in unassuming fashion. There is greater profundity to be found here, not least
of the searingly Romantic variety, but this was certainly preferable to
striving after meretricious ‘effect’. Some decoration was applied, all
eminently reasonable, though that did not prevent a seemingly irritated and
unquestionably irritating man in front of me from shaking his head whenever it
occurred. Tomes surely navigated the treacherous demands of the finale; even
its opening phrase is enough to have one throw one’s hands in the air and say
that it is unperformable. Crucial to her achievement was the ability to place
notes, both in themselves and in relation to one another: there is, as ever in
Mozart, nowhere to hide. Mozart’s marriage of learned counterpoint and extreme
chromaticism once again worked its eternal marriage; we did not sound so very
far from the well-nigh Schoenbergian Gigue, KV 574, as indeed we are not,
whether musically or chronologically. Again, decoration was tastefully
employed.
Höbarth returned for the
E-flat Violin Sonata, KV 481. Difference in scale from the earlier works for
piano and violin immediately registered. Here was a grander canvas, upon which,
most creditably, Mozart’s music was granted plenty of space to breathe, the
Fuxian ‘Jupiter’ tag from the first movement’s development section making clear
the composer’s seriousness of purpose. I could not help but wonder whether the
drama of that movement as a whole might have been projected a little more
strongly, but it remained an eminently musical performance. Again, a grander
scale was apparent in the slow movement, though certainly not at the cost of
more intimate moments. There was, quite rightly, a strong sense of the operatic
aria to the performance, especially from Höbarth, but there also remained a complexity
that was inescapably ‘instrumental’ in thought as well as deed. I again missed
on occasion a stronger sense of drama in the finale, but it received a fluent
performance, in which, no mean feat this, instrumental balances were always
finely judged. And from the fourth variation onwards, any prior reticence was
banished. There was, moreover, an excellent lilt to the final, ‘hunting’
variation. As an encore we heard another great aria-like slow movement, that to
the A major Violin Sonata, KV 526.
