Mendelssohn’s Cello Sonata no.1 in B flat major was written for the composer’s brother Paul, as fine a cellist it seems as ever rose to run a banking dynasty. Celebrated siblings pianist Isata and cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, after a slightly sketchy account of the elusive opening, made it sound as if it was written for them, and as if they were playing for themselves in the family’s music room. We were not just hearing, but overhearing. Perhaps that was why it did not always leap across the footlights and project into the Snape Maltings Concert Hall. The BBC Radio 3 broadcast of this Aldeburgh Festival concert next week might yet correct that impression.
Brahms' Second Piano Trio, for which violinist brother Braimah Kanneh-Mason joined, had something of the same qualities. It can seem a sombre piece, and Sheku’s few words introducing it even pointed out something tragic about the slow movement, although the playing here made it sound a rather noble inspiration. In the passage where the piano falls silent and violin and cello duet for a few bars, the brothers found an intimate, tender mood. The finale made a bright close to the first half, the pianist relishing the galloping rhythms.
The final and finest treat of the evening was Schubert’s Piano Quintet in A major, nicknamed “The Trout” after the composer’s catchy song Die Forelle that forms the subject of a set of variations in the fourth movement. That fourth movement is not of course the finale, and Braimah Kanneh-Mason took up a microphone to explain that, although the programme book listed just four movements, they would be playing all five. “They” now included violist Edgar Francis and double bass player Toby Hughes. The presence of a double bass releases the pianist from providing support with her lowest notes, allowing both hands to explore the often sparkling keyboard figuration.
My washing machine plays the tune of Die Forelle to indicate the end of a cycle, so its associations are often with laundry rather than Lieder. But fine playing such as we heard here brushes aside all such ring-tone abuse of good music, and what fine playing it was. The Scherzo especially was dispatched with irresistible élan, so it was no surprise when Sheku announced its repeat as an encore. He also revealed the role the quintet played in their childhood, often on car journeys. So Snape Maltings was turned into a large drawing room, with music both familiar and familial shared with us all.
Roy’s accommodation was funded by Britten Pears Arts.
