Friday 15 January 2010 at 7.30pm
Wigmore Hall
36 Wigmore Street, London W1U 2BP
Kaoru Yamada (violin)
Sholto Kynoch (piano)
Beethoven: Sonata in E flat, Op.12 No.3
Debussy: Sonata in G minor
Messiaen: Fantaisie
Schoenberg: Fantasy
Schubert: Fantasy D.934
Tickets: £8 - £13
Box office tel: 020 7935 2141
or visit www.wigmore-hall.org.uk
Kaoru Yamada and Sholto Kynoch present a typically diverse programme, carefully placing some of the most popular duo repertoire alongside some more unusual works. The concert coincides with the release of their debut CD of Messiaen, Schönberg and Schubert on Stone Records. One of Beethoven's most uplifting and virtuosic sonatas begins the evening, a showpiece for both performers. The Debussy sonata that follows is one of the most popular 20th-century violin and piano works. It is his last completed composition and embodies the full range of the mature Debussy in a remarkably concise piece, full of fantasy, sudden mood changes, lyricism and excitement. "Fantasy" is the theme of the rest of the programme as well, in three works of the same title. Messiaen's Fantaisie was only released by his widow, Yvonne Loriod, in 2007 and is thus a recent addition to the repertoire although it was written early in Messiaen's life and has all the trademark flair of a composer eager to make his mark. The Schönberg Phantasy is at the opposite end of the spectrum. Like the Debussy sonata, it was his last completed chamber work and is a dense and complex piece, albeit one that still retains a root in the gestures of the Romantic era. To close the concert, one of the great works of any genre; Schubert's Fantasie. This mighty work is one of Schubert's finest creations, with its extraordinarily beautiful opening and its famous set of variations on the song Sei mir gegrüsst. Taking us full circle back to the early 19th century, this is the perfect close to this concert.