Photo by Mikhail Vaneev

Mar 26, 2011

26-03-2011

Repin and Lugansky: Power duo share İş Sanat stage

Two of the world’s most notable Russian music virtuosos, violinist Vadim Repin and pianist Nikolai Lugansky, came to İstanbul to perform three beloved sonatas for violin and piano at İş Sanat on March 19.

In this momentous recital, we witnessed true genius at work: While some musicians play all the right notes in the right order, Repin and Lugansky instinctively take those notes and completely reassemble our consciousness.

Starting off with Edward Elgar’s introspective and melancholy Violin Sonata in E minor, Repin only hinted at what musical glories were to come during his reading of this highly chromatic and curiously wandering work, for which he used a score. Not that I necessarily expected this thorny work to be memorized, but doing it this way felt more like a standard professorial recital.

When he pushed aside the music stand and dug into the delightful sonorities of Edvard Grieg’s Sonata No. 2 in G Major from memory, we heard how Repin had the Norwegian composer’s soul imprinted on his very being. Composed in 1867, this sonata is a fine example of musical nationalism, as it includes many references to his country’s folk music. Its triadic tonal language notwithstanding, it clearly looked into the future as Grieg wove a sense of tragedy with lighthearted folk themes in a ruggedly sinewy texture between the two instruments. Through Repin and Lugansky’s solid mastery, we floated through the warm waves of folk dance-inspired melodies as well as moments of forlorn solitude, cascading us through the joyful whirlpools of the twirling finale.

But an even more incredible magic bewitched the entire hall and every occupant in the seats when their performance of César Franck’s Sonata in A Major demonstrated a standard to which few can measure up. Their mutual passion, their ultimate control over every phrase’s breath, the superbly uttered drama and magnetic energy with which they dispatched every note was a lesson in take-no-prisoners performing: without the fire in the belly, don’t even bother.

They made every familiar line important in ways I hadn’t heard before. Each soaring crescendo, the intensity of energy flowing through each effulgent melody, the way they mined every drop of emotional sweat with intention so that even the tiniest, most pianissimo line was delicately and tenderly delivered was the zenith of consummate music-making. This sonata’s second movement is one of the outstanding epitomes of classical music’s great romantic chamber compositions. Its rhapsodic and dramatic construction, replete with cresting waves of ecstatic energy and cadences imbued with dark passion, drops us feet first into a heady yet visceral mix. In Repin and Lugansky’s hands it becomes a transcendent and miraculous experience.

Although Repin was physically front-and-center throughout, this was an ineffable duo performance of equal partners. Having heard Lugansky play here in İstanbul during a recent summer festival, this performance reaffirmed what I felt about him then. Lugansky’s power as a chamber musician is undeniably idyllic and engaging. Feeling the weight of his organic relationship with the instrument, the wide palette of colors and the effortless precision of every note provided almost intoxicating levels of enjoyment. His consummate control of both feather-weight textures and powerful fortissimo passages, all the while supporting and encircling the role of the violin, made the perfect partner in a perfectly executed, passionately delivered musical event.

After an uproar of approval by the audience, their encore of Bela Bartok’s “Rumanian Folk Dances” was a yet more delicious fare, making us all want even more. These two magnificent artists indeed provided one of the İstanbul musical season’s highlights. I breathlessly await their return.

ALEXANDRA IVANOFF