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.
