For its 525th Concert, Waterford Music presented the virtuoso Czech violinist, Ivan Zenaty and his fellow countryman, pianist Igor Ardasev. They combined to present a Dvorak, Brahma and Beethoven, in what turned out to be a special evening of music and excitement.
Patrick Grogan, from Waterford Music, was welcoming in his jocular way and he described Zenaty as being an angel in 1994 when he first played in Waterford and for his glorious return, Zenaty was divine.
The Dvorak, four Romantic pieces Opus 75, opened with a warm, sweet toned Guarnieri del Gesu violin passage; there was a lovely but lonely Appassionata and a closing Larghetto that was dreamy and breathtaking.
Brahms Sonata No. 3 in D minor began with a spirited Allegro full of spirited services and surprises. The deeper piano tones in the Adagio with glorious violin swirls faded into three sustained and resonant notes of sheer aural magic. A Presto was like a poetic zephyr – a breeze of frivolity that turned a dance tune into a bagatelle of technical tricks.
After the interval, it was the Beethoven Kreutzer Sonata, first played with Bridgetower on violin. Bridgetower was a virtuoso violinist, and half Polish and half West Indian. He fell out with Beethoven over a woman and Beethoven re-dedicated the forty-minute sonata to Rodolphe Kreuzter, the second virtuoso violinist in his circle. Kreutzer never played the work in public and considered it too difficult and demanding (Incidentally, the concert was on in The Large Room on Thursday 15th November and the 16th November 1766 was Kreutzer’s birthday). pop over to these guys
Zenaty made the vastly difficult work seem not only possible but wonderfully accessible. A quiet Adagio opened into a dance-like tune before lyrical passages dissolved into piano fireworks and violin masterworks. The middle Andante was a succession of difficult variations with crescendo and continuous piano sequences. A single hammer blow on piano opened the Presto as both Ardesev and Zenaty impressed with the vigor of skill and expressiveness as piano tapped out a tune for the violin to embellish it into a wonderful closer.
