LUNCHBREAK CONCERT
THE TRȔB-BROWN DUO:
NIALL BROWN Cello
ISABELLE TRȔB Piano
COWDRAY HALL
Thursday, 25 April 2013
The Lunchbreak Concert series was delighted to welcome back husband and wife duo Niall Brown, originally from upper Deeside and Isabelle Trüb for a recital of music by Beethoven for cello and piano. Actually G. F. Handel was on the menu too and not that far in the background. The theme of their opening piece, 12 Variations on a theme from “Judas Macabäus” by Handel for keyboard and cello will have been familiar to most if not all of Thursday’s audience. The original title of this choral piece from the Oratorio Judas Maccabeus was “See here the conquering hero comes”. In 1884 the Swiss hymn writer Edmond Budry wrote new words in French to be used in worship “A toi la gloire, O Ressuscité” and in 1923 Richard Hoyle translated it as “Thine be the Glory, Risen conquering Son”. It has remained popular ever since especially at weddings and funerals and is to be found in many hymnals including CH4 where it is listed as hymn number 419.
This piece established at once the delightful musical credentials of the Duo, Niall’s warm rich cello tone sounding like the very best baritone voice and Isabelle’s wonderfully fluent and liquid outpourings of pianistic brilliance. At the opening of the piece Beethoven uses both instruments to implant Handel’s theme on our ears and of course the hymn version not having been written yet, the tune would not have been quite as familiar as it is today. The piano is no mere accompanist in the twelve variations and several times has the stage to itself while the cello exploits many of its contrasting voices from smooth warmth to exciting edgy brilliance. There was a lovely minor variation and part of the way through, after Beethoven has moved some distance away from the plain statement of the theme, he brings it back just to remind us. This was an example of Beethoven’s imaginative brilliance in that he was able to mutate the tune in so many fascinating ways just as Rachmaninoff does in his Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini or Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphoses on themes by Carl Maria von Weber - just two other fascinating examples of the challenging art of musical variation.
For their second full piece, the Duo played Beethoven’s Sonata Op.102 No.2 in D Major for piano and cello. Here too, although the instruments were more closely integrated, the piano is certainly not the junior member of the duo. It is interesting in this regard that the work is listed as a Sonata for “Piano and Cello” and not the other way round. The opening movement was both intriguing and exciting and the playing of both performers really tickled the musical palate of the listener. In the slow middle movement Niall’s lovely warm cello tone took over as the centre of delight and out of it grew the scalar theme on which the exuberant almost boisterous fugal finale was built. Not quite as thrilling as the famous Grosse Fugue perhaps but not that far behind and with a fabulous performance by the Trüb-Brown Duo.
Niall then asked the audience if there was time for another piece and no matter whether there was or not of course we all shouted YES! We were rewarded with the Scherzo from the A Major Sonata and as an extended encore it worked brilliantly well sending us all home in a thoroughly upbeat mood.