Tognetti and Vanska play Bach.

 

Tognetti and Vanska  play Bach.

What a delight to experience two very fine violinists entertaining a rapt audience with a selection Bach’s concertos that always move the heart strings. I had not attended a Tognetti concert for many years and it was wonderful that he has not lost any of the youthful enthusiasm and excitement he manages to pack into his performances. His dancing figures exploring the violin strings as he plays. Today all these years later it is hard to understand why the Australian Chamber Orchestra could not, not entice the two hundred subscribers required for them to continue their Tasmanian visits, much to Tasmania shame.

Tonight he is accompanied with another gifted violin play, Finnish Satu Vanska who together explore Bach’s conversations with a select group of string instrument’s musicians from the TSO. What a privilege to hear them play on Richard’s 1743 Guareri violin and Satu’s Stradivarius. Both sets dancing fingers moving with such ease up and down the key board, along with the TSO string players held the audience in raptures. Bach at any time is a memorable musical experience and along with the big surprise of the evening Peteris Vasks’ Vox amoris created a night to remember.

Vasks’ fantasy for violin and strings proved to be a show stopper. Composed  by Latvian composer Peteris Vasks, Vox amoris is a very emotional work. Vasks  not a household name in the West and it is only since the collapse of the Soviet Union that he has made an impact worldwide. His music reaches beyond simple tone-painting and reaches into the relationship between humanity and nature. Vox was written especially Richard Tognetti and his playing did not disappoint. It is about the greatest power on earth – love and there is no better interpretation about a love story than violin and strings orchestra. The wave of emotional music moves softly and slowly as love itself becomes stronger. If you are still to hear this piece it is highly recommended.

 It is always impossible to convert musical language into speech, you need to listen to the string instruments in conversation with each other, especially when controlled by two extraordinary violists. I hope this work will eventually reach the wide audience it deserves, as Peteris Vasks remarks,’ make the world a brighter place, more open to love.