Sophie Rosa & Peter Liang (2 Violins)

Brief Report “on the night”

An excellent concert. Sophie and husband Peter took it in turns to explain the background to each piece before they played it. The first piece follows Gulliver’s travels. After an introduction we meet the Lilliputians who are very small so Telemann  uses a very small time signature of 3/32 as a visual joke for the violinists, who have to read miniscule 64th and 128th notes. Then come the Brobdingnagians who are giants, so their music is in the equally eccentric time signature of 24/1, putting their music into enormous whole notes. Next come the Laputians who are impractical intellectuals who live on a flying island up among the clouds. The final movement contrasts two more creatures – the Houyhnhnms who have a Loure, (a refined French dance) played by the first violinist, while at the same time the second violinist portrays the scampering Yahoos. All in all, very good fun, and played as such with much enthusiasm.

Bartok’s “44 Duos for Two Violins” were written to be played by teachers and pupils, so the pieces are of wildly varying lengths and difficulty. We were treated to 4 samples including an Arabian Song and a Transylvanian Dance. The first half was completed with 2 lovely sonatas by Leclair and Vivaldi.

After the interval we were treated to a Mozart Sonata, then 4 more pieces from the Bartok (including bagpipes and a furious dance) and a piece by Gardel. Finally came Handel’s Passacaglia in a special arrangement for 2 violins, which was very exciting and was greeted by thunderous applause. A short encore followed of their favourite pieces from the Bartok, which were warmly applauded again.