The
Palais Daun-Kinsky is one of the finest of the grand Viennese
city houses. It was built between 1713 and 1716; the structure
was the work of the architect Johann Lukas von Hildebrant
and it was elaborately decorated by artists such as Alberto
Camesina, Carlo Innocenzo Carlone and Marcantonio Chiarini.
It is one of the great Viennese baroque mansions - it now
hosts a restaurant beyond most pockets - and one of its ornately
decorated rooms provides a beautiful backdrop to these performances
of the six violin sonatas published in Paris as Six
Sonates Pour Clavecin Ou Forté Piano Avec Accompagnement
d’un
Violon. The result is very handsome, both visually
and musically – though one might feel that the setting
is a bit too grand
for such thoroughly intimate music, as in the hushed playing
in the andante grazioso of K.305, for example.
The
brother and sister partnership of Gil and Orli Shaham, playing
on modern instruments, work together very convincingly, the
instrumental balance and interplay thoroughly assured and
unforced. This is particularly evident in passages such as
the variations in the andante grazioso of K.305 and
in the finale of K.302.
In
Mozart’s earlier violin sonatas the violin was often allowed
to do little more than accompany the piano; in these sonatas
the two instruments have become equal partners. There is
some wonderful music in these sonatas - in the violin’s
statement of the lyrical first melody in the allegro con spirito of
K 301, for example or the siciliana in the second
movement of that sonata; the powerful opening of K.302
and the expressive writing in the second movement of the
same
sonata. K.304, written less than a month after the death
of Mozart’s mother, is a masterpiece of ‘impersonal’ grief.
Throughout, the Shahams play with certainty of purpose
and flexibility.
Now
and then the camerawork is a little distracting, the cuts
and changes of angle seeming to random rather than responding
to anything in the structure of the music, but for the most
part it is relatively straightforward. Though it is pleasant
to see the body language of violinist and pianist, to observe
the moments of eye-contact, the occasional smile of pleasure
and so on, it cannot really be said that the visual dimension
of this recording adds very much to the impact the performances
would make if they had been issued simply as a straightforward
audio CD.
Gil
Shaham has attracted most attention as a soloist in some
of the great violin concertos, but he here shows himself
an accomplished chamber musician, and his sister plays with
great clarity and sympathy. Together they produce thoroughly
enjoyable performances of some marvellous music.
Glyn Pursglove
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Gil Shaham
(violin); Orli Shaham (piano)
[99:00] 
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