Kunstenplek De Graaf is housed in a nineteenth-century neo-classical mansion near Gentse Zuid. For several years now, the Stapelconcerten have been held there on Friday afternoons. A large salon provides seating for about sixty listeners. You can feel the breath of the bourgeoisie of yesteryear. You can smell the civic grandeur; Marcel Proust could walk in at any moment.
Schumann and Brahms, captivating sonatas
Violinist Femke Sonnen and pianist Elisaveta Vasileva have formed Duo Estrella together for several years now. Last year around this time, they performed Mozart and Debussy in this salon; today, sonatas by Schumann and Brahms. Between the first sonata by Schumann and the second by Brahms, they perform an Andante, an early work by Béla Bartók from 1902. It is never the role of the critic to point out impurities or mistakes, but to be convinced by the performance when appropriate. In many passages, they achieved that.
Sustained and lyrical as Schumann so often is, they created wonderful broad phrases. Captivating even, and violinist Femke Sonnen is good at that—at captivating. The third movement of Schumann could have used a bit more punch and pepper, but the tempo Lebhaft is naturally relative. While there were occasional problems in Schumann, in Brahms they let themselves go more in the swing of the three movements. The Bartók as an intermezzo in the middle was all the more interesting because Bartók was not yet the Bartók we know. Before he became one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century, he underwent an extensive maturation process, with influences from Impressionism and Expressionism.
The Queen of Sheba
Making music in a large salon that is much smaller than a concert hall, with the audience staring at you intently, is no easy feat in any case. The acoustics are drier; at such close range, you can virtually see the violinist's fingertips. What is nice about Duo Estrella is that the violinist and pianist create such a striking contrast. They contrast and complement each other. Femke Sonnen has thick blonde curls that she sometimes does something braid-like with. It's not just fantasy in the hair; Femke Sonnen always guarantees poetry on the strings.
Behind the violin, Elisaveta always stands like a rock. Even though she crumbled a bit here and there today, you always feel the energy in her noble piano playing. Beside the playful and ethereal Femke, Elisaveta has always had something noble and aristocratic about her, in the twenty-five years I have known her. With her stern gaze and her royal blue dress, she becomes a queen in my mind. When I close my eyes, I see a Germanic wood nymph and an Oriental queen. It could be the Queen of Sheba, who grants us her musical talent as she gave her precious gifts to King Solomon.
- WHO: Femke Sonnen (violin) and Elisaveta Vasileva (piano): Duo Estrella
- WHAT: Schumann, Brahms, Bartók
- WHERE & WHEN: Kunstenplek De Graaf, Gent
- PHOTO: © WE//KC