Music Club

IN SPITE of howling winds, a good audience came to Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor on Friday, 4 December, to hear Shiry Rashkovsky (viola) and Robin Green (piano). Their determination was rewarded, and if anything the noise of the wind outside added to the sense of peace and calm radiating from the music-making within; for this was a gentle programme delivered with appropriate poise and tranquillity. The theme was ‘fairy-tales’, the title of the first piece, Schumann’s Märchenbilder; although its four scenes are not programmatic, Shiry said she imagined at the start a child being led to a chair as his grandfather embarks on a tale.

She has a ravishing tone and played like this, the viola seemed to combine the soaring beauty of a violin with cello-like strength and warmth in its lowest register. Schumann’s delicate web of fantasy extended into the next item, three of his 12 Kinderszenen for piano solo, including the well-known Träumerei. Robin Green found just the right touch, as indeed he did with all his accompaniments, skilfully attuned to the viola’s dynamics. Their programme continued with Kreisler’s equally well-known Liebesleid, a stunning Romance by Max Bruch, three of Schumann’s ‘childhood scenes’ for piano solo, and Schumann’s great Arpeggione Sonata – originally created for a six-stringed instrument that soon after became obsolete. For their final piece the duo chose La Campanella by Paganini, a violinist so potent in his day he was rumoured to have got his skills from Old Nick himself. Fiendish dexterity is indeed required, and in this arrangement for viola, Shiry rang the sparkling bells of the title with brilliance and memorable verve.

The next concert will be a piano recital by Kausikan Rajeshkumar in Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor at 7.30pm on Friday, 8 January.