It takes two to tango, and rapport is the key to any lasting relationship. Famous musical collaborations that come to mind include Sutherland and Bonynge, Fischer-Dieskau and Moore, Oistrakh and Richter, Sophie-Mutter and Karajan – extraordinary partnerships that will long be remembered.
The new pairing that performed on Saturday night for Musica Viva Australia in Melbourne Recital Centre’s Elizabeth Murdoch Hall is worthy of joining this list. Star-studded duo, 22-year-old Dutch violinist Noa Wildschut and 28-year-old German pianist Elisabeth Brauss, started performing together in 2018. Since then, the two have been lighting up European stages with their compelling music-making and elegance. In addition to their rich shared musical understanding, their attitude towards one another suggested mutual respect and deep friendship. This was chamber music at its best.
Heralded by Anne-Sophie Mutter as “one of the musical hopes of her generation”, Wildschut displayed musicianship well beyond her years, interpreting each work on the program in a fresh, youthful way that was truly engrossing. She worked her magic on a loaned 1729 Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù violin known as the “Lady Stretton”, an instrument she describes as enabling “so many colours and possibilities”. (The program notes incorrectly state a 1750 instrument). Also on loan was her bow, a Dominique Peccatte mid-19th-century wonder, which flashed and bounced at the electric pace of a magic wand where the music demanded it.
Leading international soloist Elisabeth Brauss joined Wildschut on stage, partnering her with supreme musicality, technique, intelligence and adaptability. “Having to make friends with every new piano everywhere I go is exciting in a way, because the pieces always sound new”, she said.
Opening the program of Romantic and Impressionist works was Robert Schumann’s Violin Sonata No.1 in A minor, composed in a matter of days. From the onset this dynamic duo took command, Wildschut displaying great intensity of sound, passion and warmth, underpinned by the most sensitive playing by Brauss. Between movements, these musicians’ poise inspired complete silence and a sense of anticipation in the audience.
Engaging with the audience after the Schumann sonata, Wildschut expressed the duo’s appreciation of the hall’s acoustics and of those attending. The two then floated into Olivier Messiaen’s Thème et Variations, written in 1932 as a wedding present for the composer’s first wife, violinist Claire Delbos.
Intimate, haunting – even bleak – the opening theme led into five excitingly complex variations, some of them scaling the highest registers of the violin. Wildschut delivered these with ease, demonstrating perfect bow control and intonation. She had earlier said that “with so much going on in the world at the moment, this is a special piece to play”. This sentiment was not lost on the audience, particularly in the closing pianissimo section.
Invoking their inner Debussy, the pair came into their own with his Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor, bringing a fresh interpretation to this Impressionist work. Their risks paid off, as the work’s capacity for dynamic contrast, though perhaps over-dramatised at times, revealed the deep connection between violinist and pianist. The audience appeared collectively to hold its breath, particularly during what was surely a highlight – the pianissimo closing of the slow movement. And again, that poise.
Following interval and a re-tune of the piano, Melbourne composer May Lyon took to the stage to introduce the Melbourne premiere of her work, Forces of Nature, commissioned by Musica Viva specifically for the tour. “Being able to be part of this is an absolute gift, and it is why writing this piece was such a joy”, she told us. “It is a very special part of the program”, Wildschut added. “With a modern piece I always feel like it’s free of traditions; we can have our own fresh ideas.”
The work evokes two polar opposites – the summer melt of ice sheets and an erupting volcano. “You’ll hear the reflecting sunlight on the freezing water and cracking ice, the bubbling of an underwater volcano in its early stages and the searing heat of a fiery volcano, with leaping lava as well as its descent down the side”, Lyon explained.
Wildschut’s ethereal opening solo beautifully evoked the sunlight on ice. This was followed by a fugal passage of bubbling air escaping beneath the seabed, after which Brauss erupted into a fiery dance, lava flowing as the driving rhythms rolled across the entire range of the piano. To communicate the visions and sounds of the natural world using just two instruments was likely the challenge facing May Lyon. But for these two musical forces of nature, Wildschut and Brauss, this was not only realised, but heightened. The audience was transfixed – made clear by their appreciative applause.
Closing the program was Romanian George Enescu’s Sonata No. 3 in A minor for Violin and Piano, recorded in 1936 by the composer’s protégé Yehudi Menuhin and his sister Hepzibah – another famous partnership. Described by Wildschut as “groovy”, this technically, musically and stylistically challenging work provided a tantalising hint of gypsy violin. Wildschut’s highly focussed performance and reliance on the sheet music could easily be forgiven – she had learned this work just prior to the tour.
Undoubtedly the climax of the recital came during the closing moments of the last movement, during which both music and performers, hair flying, went a little “crazy”. Over a fiendishly difficult accompaniment, Wildschut almost willed the violin to snap in two, before a visible plume of rosin sprang from her bow in the closing bars.
After two ‘curtain calls’, Brauss announced a lighter encore – Tin Pan Alley by Paul Schoenfield. Short and sweet, it was an ideal finish to this all-encompassing program. The icing on the cake may have been if Wildschut had played this from memory.
The concert was followed by a generous on-stage discussion between performers and composer May Lyon, hosted by Paul Kildea, Musica Viva’s Artistic Director. It was a joy to witness the genuine charm and maturity of these two young performers. We will watch this collaboration’s development with great interest.
Fortunately for Melbourne audiences, this dazzling duo returns to the Melbourne Recital Centre for a second concert showcasing the first work they performed together – the Cesar Franck Violin Sonata in A Major. This is sure to be a fresh interpretation that will prove that the future of classical music is in very good hands. If you missed their first Melbourne performance, this second opportunity on Tuesday, November 28 is a “must see”.
Photo credit: Tony McDonough
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Helen Rommelaar reviewed “Wildschut & Brauss”, presented by Musica Viva Australia at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Elisabeth Murdoch Hall on November 25, 2023.
