Kunstenplek De Graaf is located in a neoclassicistic mansion from the mid-nineteenth century near Ghent South. For several years, the Stapelconcerten have been guests here on Friday afternoons. In a large salon there is room for sixty listeners.
Violinist Femke Sonnen and pianist Elisaveta Vasileva form the duo Estrella together. Mozart's sonata KV 304 in E minor is often performed, also by amateurs. Simple score, but as always with Mozart, the simplicity makes the music fragile and delicate. A note that sounds a fraction of a second too early or too late is immediately noticeable. Sonnen's violin sounds somewhat dull and muted, like a singer with a hoarse voice. That is due to the crowded room where the audience sits shoulder to shoulder. Mozart in minor, that is often the best he wrote. In this sonata too, sublime melancholy resonates, in the same year Mozart's mother died. Sober and restrained, without frills, entirely in style, duo Estrella plays the two movements of this melancholic sonata.
I wonder if Femke Sonnen is a better composer than violinist when she plays her composition "Passing Clouds" from 2021, a beautiful two-part reverie inspired by the clouds she saw drifting past her skylight window during the corona period. The piece Estrella by Ghent composer Georges Lonque (1900-1967), the duo's signature piece, is a piece of salon music that fits nowhere better than in the intimacy of this stately mansion.
The main course of this recital is the violin sonata by Claude Debussy. This sonata is an outsider among the other sonatas from the early twentieth century. No clear melody or structure, but impressions, tone clusters and atmospheres in the best impressionistic tradition. It is Debussy's last work, before he died in 1917 at the age of 55. Not a swan song but a brilliant work that opens the door to a new world. Apart from some minor intonation inaccuracies, duo Estrella displayed the entire color palette from somber to tragic or exuberant. Salons like this kunstenplek De Graaf have virtually disappeared from our cities. They are sumptuous halls where this music often resounded among the well-to-do burghers. Not only the music, but also the opulent interior of De Graaf makes it a special experience. With their red and black dress, the violinist and pianist fit perfectly into this beautiful hall. Le Rouge et le Noir in the salon of Stendhal.
WHO: Duo Estrella
WHERE: kunstenplek De Graaf (Gent)
WHEN: matinee concert 28 April 2023