Stellar Reviews following Performances at Wigmore Hall

On the 1-5 November, Wigmore Hall hosted centenary celebrations for French composer Gabriel Fauré, presenting five sold-out concerts curated by cellist Steven Isserlis. The programme featured works by Gabriel Fauré, Camille Saint-Saens, Nadia Boulanger, Eugène Ysaÿe, and Maurice Ravel, with violinists Joshua Bell and Irène Duval, violist Blythe Teh Engstroem and pianists Jeremy Denk and Connie Shih.

 Critics were unanimous in their praise for their performances:

“Whether or not they play it (Faure’s String Quartet) frequently, Joshua Bell, Irène Duval, Blythe Teh Engstroem and Isserlis audibly had its measure – their steady though always flowing tempo for its Allegro moderato ideally complemented by the luminous radiance of its Andante; before its Allegro elides elements of scherzo and finale in music whose dextrous pizzicato writing and gently cumulative intensity conveys an affirmation that speaks of a challenge, and a life, fulfilled.” – Richard Whitehouse, Arcana *****

“Yet, as cellist and curator Steven Isserlis announced from the platform, there was a silver lining, thanks to Irène Duval – who stepped in to head the Violin Sonata no.2, programmed instead of its predecessor. Thus we heard the first chamber work of the French composer’s celebrated late period, dating from the middle of the First World War, when Fauré had lost his hearing and his son Philippe had been sent to the frontline. Not surprisingly the sonata is invested with concentrated feeling, brought straight to the surface by Duval’s searching tone and Connie Shih’s assertive piano, both fully inside the music. The first movement found brief consolation in its third principal theme, though this was a brief respite in music of passionate and occasionally fraught discourse. The second movement was initially bittersweet in these hands but more obvious serenity was achieved in the long melody of the second theme, beautifully phrased by Duval. The finale, where Fauré finds positivity in the face of his troubles, was sunlit in these hands, with a thoroughly convincing surge to the finish.” – Ben Hogwood, Arcana *****

“If this work marks the culmination of Fauré’s earlier creative maturity, his First Piano Quintet effectively straddles its central phase given the near-on two decades between conception and completion. What had started out for four instruments in four movements ended up as five in three, yet there is nothing tentative about an initial movement whose pervasive introspection belies an emotional eddying no less subtle than the motivic intricacy these players uncovered, and in which the expressively effulgent playing of Irène Duval was an undoubted enrichment.” – Richard Whitehouse, Arcana *****

“Less often heard than its successor, Enescu’s Second Violin Sonata is no less significant. Its composer’s first masterpiece, much of the fascination lies in the degree to which its melodic ideas evolve across and between each of the three movements for a potent demonstration of motivic unity. This was something Irène Duval conveyed in ample measure, yet without ever neglecting that reticent or sometimes ominous quality characterizing much of its content – at least until the quixotic finale channels these diverse elements towards a resolution achieved almost despite itself. Throughout, Jeremy Denk’s pianism was a model of lucidity and poise in a performance which went all the way in confirming this work as one of the three greatest masterpieces by a teenager – the other two being written 74 years earlier, then 72 years later. (presumably Mendelssohn’s Octet and a piece to be confirmed! – ed)” – Richard Whitehouse, Arcana *****

“This took us to the heart of that higher plane about which Duval wrote so eloquently for theartsdesk: elusive, harmonically restless, impassioned yet subtle. Her whole body moves with the upward-striving ecstasy; you don’t need to wonder where the music’s going in such hands. Shih seemed to favour more stormy weather than we often get in this work, but created special magic in the little turns of phrase which so grace the slow movement. She and Duval were different creatures in Saint-Saëns’ First Piano Trio.” – David Nice, The Arts Desk *****

The concerts are now available to stream on Wigmore Hall’s website and YouTube channel.

Concert 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hOyzgF8NN8

Concert 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRNqc_xDKwg

Concert 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNz6DLihbSg

Concert 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRqPR4t5Llc

Concert 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOi6_RU7Vdg