At Saturday’s North Okanagan Community Concert at the Performing Arts Centre, violinist Jean-Sébastien Roy (pronounced the same as king in French) said in his preface to Saint-Saëns’s well-loved Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso: “Behind every great piece there’s a great violinist.”
He then went on to prove the point.
His excellence reflects his attitude: “work on your art every day of your life, trying to make it better.”
Accompanied by Philip Chiu on piano, with accomplished young local musician Colleen Venables turning pages, Roy opened the program with Beethoven’s Sonata No.1, Opus 12 – a choice that thrilled the audience into applause after each movement. Roy acknowledged the response in a charming Montréal accent: “How can I say … ? We like you very much. After the first movement, we knew we were going to have a great evening.”
And so did we (the audience).
Both musicians played with such clarity, delicacy and youthful energy that the week’s crises melted into memory and we were captivated. (Roy just turned 30 and Chiu, in his late 20s, is about the same age as Beethoven when he wrote this sonata for violin and piano, dedicated to Salieri.)
There were times in the second movement when Chiu took Beethoven’s Andante “con moto” (with motion) a little too literally and drowned Roy’s subtle finesse but, for the most part, both were perfectly balanced, with evident rapport.
Roy tempered his enjoyment of Bloch’s emotional improvisation Nigun (the second piece in the program), never slipping into self-indulgence. Each double stop was precisely in tune as he bowed from one intense phrase to another.
Three of Brahms’ Hungarian Dances lightened the mood again and led into the beautifully written and exquisitely performed Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso.
An elated audience emptied into the lobby at intermission, to be greeted on its return by the engaging wit of Chiu and his refreshingly restrained performance –– except for some busy footwork –– of four Rachmaninoff preludes. (For anyone wondering: Rachmaninoff ends with two Fs in Russian and V in English.)
Chiu suggested the sentimentalism associated with Rachmaninoff(v) lies mostly in interpretation and he did a great deal –– or rather, a great deal less –– to counter that. However, the program might have been better served had he played only three preludes rather than four because our euphoria had dampened by the time Roy returned to the stage, his mop of brown curls embracing his dimpled shy grin –– not unlike a young Beethoven.
The program note identified his violin as a Stradivarius loaned by the Canada Council. However, he now plays his own violin, made in Italy by Milan’s Carlo Antonio Testore in 1745. Roy had stumbled on this instrument when he had picked it up to compare to another that he was going to buy.
Violin and musician immediately bonded as was evidenced in the last piece on the program, Sonata No. 3, Op.108 in D Minor by Brahms. But even Roy and his Testore couldn’t quite restore our spirits to the peak they had reached in the first half.
Nonetheless, the audience rose in appreciation of the exceptional talent, expertise, humour and charisma of these two young men from Montréal.
The North Okanagan Community Concert Association’s provision of pre-show entertainment has become a regular enhancement to its concerts.
This month, Bev Martens and two of her students, Amy and Hana Friedman, played piano, violin and viola, and Barbara Angel hosted a jolly music quiz.
A few tickets for this NOCCA season’s final concert, by Chor Leoni April 2, are still available at the Ticket Seller box office in the Performing Arts Centre.
–– Christine Pilgrim reviews the North Okanagan Community Concert Association series for The Morning Star.
