Download review - Concerts in the West

CONCERTS IN THE WEST 2015
12 – 14 November in Hatherleigh, Bridport, Ilminster and Lyme Regis
SOPHIE ROSA violin
with SIMON LANE and SHOLTO KYNOCH piano who each played in two of the four recitals.
Two grand sonatas – by Elgar in E minor and Brahms in G major – formed the expressive weight of
this programme. Sophie’s wonderful Joseph Gagliano violin was heard at its best in the soaring lines
of the Brahms. The sound generated was a match for the pianists' role, even when they were carried
away and the sound level rose dramatically. Historically, Beethoven's early Sonata in A, Op 12 No 2
was a strange choice, a work that had yet to allow the violin to be on an equal footing with the
piano. Yet the players fully realised the scherzo-like writing of the first movement. However,
Sophie's tendency to enter slightly after the beat in the second movement did not make for perfect
unity with the keyboard but her tone was never less than beautiful.
From the outset, Elgar's 1918 Violin Sonata catches one unawares in the immediacy and
concentration of its opening. Pianists and violinist played to the edge in what was for the composer
a welcome, if temporary, release from his life in London as a knighted figure.
A distinguished product of Chetham’s School of Music and a Gold Medallist of the Royal Northern
College of Music, Sophie already has enviable solo and orchestral experience. In the final work,
Ravel's outrageous rhapsody, Tzigane Sophie sailed through the technical challenges and clearly
enjoyed the excitement generated.
Concerts in the West 2015 reaches its final group of concerts in the first week of December with the
Consone Quartet which recreates the sound world of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert.
ANTHONY PITHER