Richard Tognetti and Polina Leschenko in Recital. Llewellyn Hall, ANU School of Music. Tuesday, September 13 at 8pm. Tickets: $89-112 plus concessions for students and pensioners. Bookings: ACO Box Office: 1800 444 444 or ticketek: 1300 795 012.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Audiences are perhaps most used to hearing violinist Richard Tognetti as leader or soloist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, but here is the opportunity to hear him play with Russian pianist Polina Leschenko in recital at Llewellyn Hall on Tuesday, September 13. With just two artists together on stage, there is the opportunity to catch every nuance of the music in a distinctly personal performance.
"I haven't played a recital in this neck of the woods for a long time," Tognetti says, "and I love playing with Polina, a superb and highly distinguished artist."
In Australia this recital will be given only at the City Recital Hall, Sydney and in Canberra, but later this year in November, when Tognetti becomes the first Artist-in-Residence at Milton Concert Hall at London's Barbican Centre, he will recreate the recital with Leschenko.
This will be the third time that Leschenko has performed with the ACO. She is married to violist Nathan Braude, who has toured to Europe with the orchestra, so there's a strong family feeling among all the musicians. Leschenko has received praise for her solo recitals and chamber music recitals at the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Carnegie Hall, New York and the Sydney Opera House.
The recital will begin with Estonian composer Arvo Part's Fratres for violin and piano. The work has been described as both simple and intricate, in which a state of profound peace and beauty develops. The use of Part's musical style known as "tintinnabuli", as though imitating the ringing of bells, creates music that is hypnotic and compelling.
What better piece could Tognetti have chosen to celebrate the approaching Canberra spring than Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 5 in F major, Spring? Described as sunny, equable and fresh it is by no means a small-scale work, its four movements ending with a virtuosic rondo.
Tognetti describes Peter Sculthorpe's Irkanda I, a work dating from 1955, as "an early piece that is very dear to my heart as a solo violinist". He points out that the late Sculthorpe hailed from Tasmania, and his music mirrors the heart and soul of Australia.
The recital will finish with Violin Sonata No.3 in D minor by Brahms. Peter Latham, in his book Brahms, describes the opening allegro of this piece: "It starts with a great sigh and ends with an even greater one." Tognetti talks of the drama of the work and David Garrett describes the virtuosity and outspoken nature of the piano part.
A program of four such contrasting works will show the many facets of these two accomplished performers.
Tognetti is working on a new project with filmmaker Jen Peedom, who has received plaudits for her documentary, Sherpas.
"The film, Mountain, is an onward journey from our Reef," Tognetti says, referring to a collaboration in which ACO musicians and surfers combine to create a performance piece in which music and nature interact.
"It's an exploration of mountains and what people do on, with, around, up and down them. We play live music. It's extraordinary and successful filmmaking."
