New Zealand Sammartini, Saint-Saëns, R. Schumann, Shostakovich, Fauré; Evoke Duo (Natarani Witten-Hannah [cello], Elizabeth Lau [piano]). Old Library, Whangarei, New Zealand. 16.3.2025. (PSe)
Giovanni Battista Sammartini – Cello Sonata
Saint-Saëns – Allegro, Op.43 (Apassionata)
R. Schumann – Fantasy Pieces, Op.73
Shostakovich – Sonata in D minor for Cello and Piano, Op.40
Fauré – Elegie, Op.24
Cellist Natarani Witten-Hannah and pianist Elizabeth Lau are both well-established musicians. Natarani is an experienced orchestral and chamber musician, a broad-based teacher, and has formed what seems to be a ‘jobbing’ string quartet. In addition to her remarkably extensive teaching commitments, Elizabeth finds time to work as a ‘collaborative’ pianist, music director, conductor and – perhaps surprisingly – double bassist. Contrastingly, their Evoke Duo partnership is very much in its infancy, as witness a few timing lapses. Yet, these were truly tiny, such as would bother only those weaned on a diet of fastidiously cleansed studio recordings. Otherwise, all the evidence here indicated a burgeoning, lively musical partnership.
Their programme was as listed above – although, to quote Eric Morecambe, ‘not necessarily in that order’. As it turned out, the sequence was 2-5-4-1-3, ‘necessarily’ a completely different arrangement! And a good thing, too: I had harboured a couple of doubts about the listed order, whereas this one made perfect sense. For instance, placing the Saint-Saëns and Fauré items together encouraged us to compare teacher and pupil; pivoting the programme around and ending its first half with the relatively shocking Shostakovich provided food for discussion during the interval; the Sammartini soothed any nerves still jangling, and linked admirably to the fulsome finale furnished by Robert Schumann.
This ‘burgeoning, lively partnership’ took their opening item by the throat, ensuring that Saint-Saëns’s Allegro, Op.43 lived up to its subtitle. Nor did they overlook the music’s ‘gypsy’ slant, revelling in the music’s rapidly shifting expressive contours. From the very start, it was clear that ‘balance’ was a watchword, the thunder of the piano buoying up (rather than drowning) the cello, which later capitalised on Saint-Saëns’s high-pitched suspensions. All things considered, a tremendous ‘overture’.
Yet, could anything have been more contrasted than Fauré’s Elegie, Op.24? Elizabeth’s piano set a marching pulse not just solemn, but positively funereal. In response, Natarani’s cello was the very soul of bereavement. Together, through growing agitation, they built an impressively anguished climax, crackling with charged emotion – and let it down oh-so-gently, melting into musically satisfying gloom.
And what better introduction to Shostakovich’s Op.40 Sonata? As it happens, Whangarei Music Society heard this work in 2012, when the performers were Martin Rummel and Stephen DePledge. On that occasion I observed, ‘Shostakovich’s hair-raising Sonata … was composed in 1934, [which] gave me pause to wonder: this was when Shostakovich’s star was in the ascendant, fully two years before Stalin’s Soviet first came down on him like the proverbial ton of bricks.’ From our perspective it seems (probably accidentally?) like a ‘prophetic’ bridge between the former unfettered, popular youth, and the latter embittered, isolated man – all the key elements of the two are there, bound by a structure that owes far more to ‘bourgeois formalism’ than to ‘Soviet realism’.
The Evoke Duo, although less overtly savage than their illustrious predecessors, displayed the same thoroughgoing sympathy with this unexpectedly pivotal work. Fearlessly surmounting the not inconsiderable technical demands, they unearthed so many of the music’s multifarious nuances. In fact, checking my notes, which inevitably are hurriedly scribbled, I was surprised to find I had used an unusually high number of different words to describe basically ‘forceful’ or ‘gentle’ sounds. Whilst not unique, this does admit the sheer depth of discernment in Evoke Duo’s approach – after all, it does matter whether a passage is just jolly or tinged with sarcastic bile; or whether it is dancing or just pretending to dance. This perceptive performance struck me as profoundly well-wrought – and intensely moving.
After the interval, Evoke Duo transported us into the realm of pure pleasure. In the Cello Sonata by Giovanni Battista Sammartini (though apparently a misattribution), the piano set a pleasing pulse, over which the cello announced the merry melody with unalloyed joy. The players romped playfully, the mood immune to the music’s teasing edges. Slow and rather noble, the second movement’s hymnic theme was simply stated, spawning a procession of equally simple variations, and finding a coda entirely unnecessary. The finale resumed the romping; all was dispatched with relaxed flair. Lovely.
My relationship with Robert Schumann’s music is somewhat curious: I hugely enjoy all that comes my way, yet I have never been tempted to delve further. Whether the Evoke Duo’s Fantasy Pieces, Op.73 will constitute an irresistible temptation remains to be seen, but I did enjoy it – hugely. Flowing airily and expressively, No.1’s soaring, vaulting contours were drawn to captivating effect. The start of No.2 found a rippling piano cushioning the cello’s lyric lines but soon gathering a more intense focus; both instruments, with pinpoint accuracy, leaping acrobatically. Their hacked phrases rendered No.3 almost violent, more ‘animal’ in the barks that framed the otherwise freely florid melodic phrases. My notes said, ‘Hot stuff, this!’ I wasn’t kidding.
Then came the announcement, ‘Here’s a ‘fun’ little piece to finish off – it’s called Scherzo.’ It bristled with rapid cello figurations, and in the middle featured a twirling little tune with some natty inflections. The returning main section was wittily embellished with lots of fairly outrageous cello special effects. ‘Fun’? Oh, yes – I even went and peeked at the composer’s name: Daniel van Goens (1904-30); hmm, yet another name new to me.
This was a remarkably well-crafted programme, featuring performances both characterful and wholly involving. Come to think of it, if the ‘young’ Evoke Duo is already this good, what will it be like when they have ‘grown up’? It is a mouth-watering prospect.
Paul Serotsky