THIS latest concert in Bishop Auckland Music Society’s 2014 season also presented an interesting programme for cello and piano, this time given by Jane Lindsay, a postgraduate student at the Royal College of Music, and Jennifer Hughes, who holds a fellowship in piano accompaniment at the College. Their sound in the Throne Room at Auckland Castle seemed particularly resonant.
They opened with Debussy’s Cello Sonata, a changeable and unsettled piece which ended with a passionate cry. Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No. 3 included a bright, confident Scherzo and a brief but very moving Adagio cantabile.
Although the programme notes referred to the almost annoyingly simple melody which formed the basis for Mendelssohn’s Variations Concertantes, as Beethoven and others had shown before, it’s not necessarily the original tune which is important, but what your imagination lets you do by way of variations.
That was demonstrated in this short set of attractive variations with lots of contrast and a triumphant ending.
Lindsay had mentioned after the interval that she has been loaned a cello made by the Amati Brothers in 1610, and the richness of its sound particularly suited the Brahms Sonata No 1, Op 38.
The Society’s next concert is on September 5, when the Dante String Quartet will play Haydn, Fauré and Schubert. Tickets from 01388 606075.
Peter Bevan
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