Thankfully Janine Jansen was well enough to return to Wigmore Hall with pianist Denis Kozhukhin, along with Timothy Ridout (viola) and Daniel Blendulf (cello), having had to withdraw from last week's programme. Switching to Brahms’ Second Violin Sonata (carried forward from the cancelled concert) instead of the originally programmed First, this was followed by the Second Viola Sonata, with all forces combining for the Piano Quartet no. 3 in C minor.
In the violin sonata, Kozhukhin’s opening was warm, to which Jansen responded with exquisitely light fragments, before picking up the lyrical melody. Her tone throughout was rich, with full-blooded vibrato, yet she also gave strongly assertive attack to the insistent repeated interjections, and there was real passion in the development section from both players. In the second movement, Jansen and Kozhukhin contrasted well the intimate, almost prayerful opening with playful bounce in the offbeat rhythms that followed. Beautiful pianissimo playing from Jansen always retained a warmth of contact, never airy or breathy in tone. The finale has a big sweep through its unconventional structure, and both players carried us through its lyricism, injected with mysterious diminished piano arpeggios to its richly dramatic conclusion.
Originally composed for clarinet, Brahms’ viola versions of the Op.120 sonatas have nevertheless found a welcome position in the instrument’s repertoire. In fact, the instrument can perhaps bring out a darker side to the music, with the potential for a little more grit in tone. Ridout has a quietly commanding presence, and right from the opening singing melody, he showed that he had the lyricism to convey Brahms’ long lines, but it was the ebb and flow of joint proceedings with Kozhukhin that drove this opening movement forward. Despite going very slightly awry in the opening phrase, the second movement had even greater drive, with both players ramping up the drama, exploiting Brahms’ rich textures to the full. The finale had lighter touches, with a tender opening line from Ridout, and playful filigree exchanges between the instruments, before Kozhukhin kicked off the explosion leading to the powerful climax, with an effortlessly synchronised falling chromatic scale and race to the finish.
Right from Kozhukhin’s thundering opening to the Third Piano Quartet, and the dark string response, it was clear this would be a totally committed performance from all four musicians. What makes chamber musicians exceptional is when their connection goes beyond just tight ensemble. The players move as one, blending their tone so that it almost feels like a single instrument. This was much in evidence here, with Jansen and Ridout even rising and falling from their seats in unison in the finale, and the blend of their instruments in their duetting passages was sublime, every nuance of bowing and dynamic perfectly matched. All four galloped through the strange rhythms of the second movement, with its gloriously startling major conclusion, then Blendulf stepped into the limelight with a beautifully lyrical opening to the Andante, Kozhukhin providing a gentle pulse.
Kozhukhin set the perpetual motion that drives the finale to its wild conclusion, with the other instruments exchanging thematic material. But after the big climax, Brahms pares things right back, and the players dropped to an intense piano, before Kozhukhin crashed in with the majestic coda. After more brief drama, everything died down again before Kozhukhin delivered one final falling chromatic scale. After a brief pianissimo pause, their sudden major chords shattered the calm, giving a suitably dramatic conclusion to an intensely passionate performance.
