Forget
Delius, Arnold Bax is British music's answer to the French
impressionists. Tintageland The Garden of Fand are familiar
enough explorations of light and space, but many of his
lesser known orchestral and chamber works resonate with
echoes of Debussy and his followers.
Shamefully,
Bax is still not played as much as he deserves to be (how
often, if at all, do the seven symphonies get an airing?)
so the inclusion of his Sonata No 2 for violin and piano
as the center piece of Tasmin Little and Martin Roscoe's
recital was doubly welcome. Not only is it a great piece,
powerfully evocative and colourful, but it was given with
spellbinding commitment and technical aplomb.
What
a wonderfully mature performer Tasmin Little now is, sweet
and rich in tone, and blessed with a technique that both
looks and sounds faultless. She and Roscoe, whose skills
as an ensemble pianist are almost without equal, really
got to the heart of this sonata, yielding to it's romantic
imagination and impetus, and fully capturing its quixotic
spirit.
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