Edinburgh Music Review:The Story of the Violin
Nicola Benedetti is the gift that keeps on giving. Not only is she young and charismatic, one of the world’s finest violinists, and Scottish to boot, she is this year effortlessly dominating the Edinburgh International Festival, and this lunchtime recital in the airy space of the Old Quad’s new Festival venue was a treat.
Taking us on a historical journey through the solo violin repertoire of the last 400 years, Ms Benedetti proved an excellent guide. Playing the “Gariel” Stradivari violin of 1717, she conjured marvellous sounds from this small and versatile instrument.
Firstly, she played a Passacaglia in G Minor which forms the final movement of Heinrich Biber’s extraordinary Rosary Sonatas for solo violin, written about 1676. Based on a descending scale of four notes, which never cease to appear, Ms Benedetti wove a magical web of sound around them of ever-increasing complexity. In its remarkable, repetitive form, it can change character so subtly that one forgets the four notes, until suddenly, there they are again, unembellished, before vanishing into the texture once more. The Estonian composer, Arvo Pärt, must have been aware of Biber, as I certainly heard clear echoes of his own style in this work.
Next, we heard one of the greatest works for solo instrument ever devised, J S Bach’s ‘Chaconne’, from his Second Partita. Again based on a repeating bass line, this miraculous work showed how music and violin playing had developed since Biber. The partita was written between 1717 and 1720, and this chaconne forms the final movement, which lasts as long as the previous four movements combined. In a tour de force of stunning brilliance, Ms Benedetti played with such verve and enthusiasm that one was almost unaware of the difficulties involved. I was also impressed to hear that she played the Biber and Bach in the accepted modern “authentic” style with minimal vibrato, allowing the lines to emerge clearly from her violin.
The final two sections of the recital did have vibrato, and pizzicato, and a whole gamut of technical subtleties. Niccolò Paganini, perhaps the most famous violinist of all time (even eclipsing André Rieu!), was a composer, as well as a world famous virtuoso, and his 24 Caprices, written between 1802 and 1817, show off the instrument to a remarkable degree. Ms Benedetti first played ‘The Arpeggio’, which demonstrates the extraordinary harmonies possible across all four strings, and then number 24, whose theme and variations have given rise to other variations, most recently by Lloyd Webber for the South Bank Show.
The recital concluded with two pieces for solo violin by the Belgian composer, Eugène Ysaŷe, from 1923, more modern sounding, but no less demanding.
This was a simply mesmerising concert, one of the best I have ever seen at the Festival, and Nicola Benedetti received a great ovation at the end. Bravo!
Edinburgh International Festival