Two Lieder Transcriptions - Schubert/Liszt
Impromptu Op 90 No 4 in A flat - Schubert
Sonata for Violin and piano, Op 78, in G - Brahms
Piano Quintet in A, D 667, The "Trout" - Schubert
The final recital in the Schubert/Brahms Festival took place in the NCH on Sunday afternoon. Schubert had pride of place and pride of playing too; for the styles of Kurt Nikkanen (violin) and John O'Conor (piano) could at best be said to converge rather than coincide in Brahms's Sonata No 1. Perhaps the last minute substitution of this sonata for the advertised No 3 could be held partly responsible for the patchiness of the ensemble.
Liszt's so called Transcriptions of Schubert's songs would be better called Transformations for to Schubert's sincerity Liszt added a diablerie all his own. By following Auf dem Wasser zu singen with the Impromptu in A flat Philippe Cassard made this very plain: the first always straining at the leash as if to explore new and forbidden territories, the second on the edge of the frontier but never crossing it, preserving a decorum foreign to Liszt.
Nikkanen and Cassard, joined by Isabelle van Kenlen (viola), Matt Haimowitz (cello) and Dominic Dudley (double bass), gave a sparkling performance of Schubert's "Trout" Quintet. Most of the sparkle came from the piano, so much so that the work sounded more like a Concertino than a Quintet. Cassard moved in and out of the texture with great skill but if his playing had been somewhat gentler the string players might have sounded to greater effect. The performance was undoubtedly most enjoyable, but was it quite what Schubert, or the wealthy cellist who commissioned the work, had in mind?
