THE second concert in the Royal Conservatoire's short series exploring Schubert's duets, featuring pianists Jonathan Plowright and Aaron Shorr, contained object lessons on interpretation and programme construction.
The latter first. There was a single work on the programme: Schubert's large-scale Sonata In C Major For Four Hands, the so-called Grand Duo. That was all; and that was the object lesson. If you have a major big work, let it be stand-alone; don't add padding or fillers. Time and again concert programmes are inflated by unnecessary additions and extensions. Less is almost always more. Some works are sufficient unto themselves, and the Grand Duo is a case in point.
As it was, with a 10-minute late start, an introduction by principal John Wallace and a little tailpiece encore of four linked miniatures by the composer, the entire event ran at 45 minutes: just perfect. Any more would have detracted from the subtle magnificence of the mighty Sonata.
Playing with restraint and clarity, Plowright and Shorr began the Sonata in a state of total discretion. It neither shouted nor was over-defined. It just grew organically to fill the canvas. Even the Beethoven Eight ticking in the second movement was amiably understated; and that meant the music's brief diversion into drama and dissonance was the more startling, while the outgoing, airy qualities of the Scherzo appeared totally unbuttoned, and the finale, with discretion still its hallmark, bubbled away under the surface with wit and mischief: a superbly structured performance, delivered with style and class.
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