Performing dramatic musical works in the concert hall is often described as a metaphorical ‘balancing act’ between dramatic content and musical fidelity. Yet, the recent spate of concert hall versions of operatic works by orchestras without sufficient resources to stage a full opera tips the scales in favour of music with additional dramatic elements resulting in somewhat unconvincing outcomes. Looking to reunite the two were Manchester’s premiere contemporary music group Psappha, in two dramatic and newly-dramatised works by Ligeti and Kurtág alongside two classics of the modern repertoire.
Before the two dramatic works of the second half commenced, Psappha’s musicians first showed their innate musicianship in works by Witold Lutosławski and Bela Bartók. Lutosławski’s Variations on a Theme of Paganini, heard here in the original two piano configuration and performed by Ben Powell and Paul Janes, dates from the composer's piano duo days with fellow composer Andrzej Panufnik in occupied Poland, where the two would transcribe music for performances in Warsaw cafes and at private functions. The piece is dazzling in its application of the compositional processes du jour, thus exploring virtuosity through a non-melodic lens. Powell and Janes’ performance demonstrated this exceptionally, even if the acoustic choices meant some detail was lost. A combination of the need for sightlines in the following Bartók piece and Psappha’s noticeable camera presence seeking the best shots of the soloists meant that both pianists were situated with their backs to the audience angled away from each other, and both played without their piano lids. This meant the sound sometimes lacked the focus and projection one might expect. Although the work’s formal and tonal bedrock might have suited a finale-orientated programming, the audience were certainly left to rue the lost output of such an inspired compositional partnership; imagine where piano ensemble music might be if some of Lutosławski/Panufnik’s arrangements of Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky and Bach had survived…
Janes and Powell were joined by Tim Williams and Oliver Patrick for the Stravinsky-inspired Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion. The languorous opening with its juggernaut 9/8 pulse set up a middle movement with music and lyricism bursting out of the strict meter like a caged animal. If there was one criticism, it was that, in moments where time was taken over the music, the unfamiliar chamber ensemble lacked one figure taking the lead, meaning some potential for flexibility in espressivo sections was lost. However, the delightfully bright xylophone timbre at the start of the third movement brought a joyful character to the piece which is often missed in music of this ilk.