Festival Music
Maxim Vengerov
Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Miranda Heggie
four stars
FOR A solo violin and piano recital, the Usher Hall may seem like a very large venue, and although perhaps to begin with Maxim Vengerov and Roustem Saitkoulov’s performance felt a touch remote, their virtuosity and magnetic stage presence coupled with their rich, lustrous sound swiftly captivated the audience.
Opening with Schubert’s Violin Sonata in A major D574, Vengerov’s sleek, supple sound filled the hall, and the "Duo" aspect of the sonata was very much evident, with Saitkoulov’s rippling piano playing driving the testing urgency of the scherzo movement. Vengerov’s expert artistry was further displayed with lush double stopping and almost microscopic ornamentation in Beethoven’s Sonata in C minor Op 30 No 2, with moments of dark foreboding being followed by a jubilant, almost ostentatious finale.
Maurice Ravel’s Violin Sonata in G Major saw the second half open with a wholly different mood, with Saitkoulov beautifully expressing Ravel’s deliciously blurry piano writing, giving a unique colour to Vengerov’s smooth, singing violin lines. The middle "blue" section of the sonata had a cheeky, yet persistent drive, ending on a slightly suggestive note, before the dogged precision of the final movement.
A stunning performer, Vengerov displayed the full extent of his technical ability with Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst’s Polyphonic Etude No 6, The Last Rose of Summer, a set of variations on a traditional Irish melody. Despite being written for unaccompanied violin, the polyphony is very much present, and Vengerov brought out each voice simultaneously with pizzicatos paired against soaring solo melodies, and multiple stopping. Ending with Fritz Kreisler’s arrangement of Paganini’s I palpiti, based on an aria from Rossini’s Tancredi, Vengerov evoked the emotions of the aria with sublime tenderness and passion.
Why are you making commenting on HeraldScotland only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here