Sonata Op. 45 in C minor - Greig
Sonata - Ravel
Sonatine No 2 (Ceilidh) - Philip Martin
Sonata for Piano and Violin in A
Last Thursday's recital in The John Field Room, NCH, was the epitome of Romanticism and even Ravel's somewhat quirky harmonic sense was swept up in the wave of luscious sound. Philip Martin's Sonatine No 2 was odd man out with its thinner textures and very restrained piano part, but players and audience needed a break between the tempestuous passions unleashed in the other works.
Who better to interpret the sonatas of Franck and Greig than Geraldine O'Grady (violin) and Veronica McSwiney (piano) with their obvious empathy for the music of the late 19th century, when hearts beat all the more strongly for being encased in rigid conventions of attire!
Greig, essentially a miniaturist, was determined "to fight through to the great forms, cost what it may," but his Sonata Op. 45 does at times sound like a Herculean attempt to weld some lyric pieces together in a not altogether suitable structure. On this occasion the players managed to balance the modest lyricism and the structural ambition at the cost of some inflation; the work demands it.
Franck's Sonata was born large, so to speak, and did not have to strive for greatness. It was played with all the necessary warmth and insight and was the perfect culmination of the recital. Ravel's Sonata, written 40 years later and embodying a blues section, is as much a gorgeous tonal wallow as the other works and is beginning to sound a bit old-fashioned.
