Dances and Duos
The Corn Exchange, Haddington 14/9/25
Laura Van Der Heijden and Friends
Max Baillie (violin), Laura van der Heijden (cello, vocalist), Misha Mullov-Abbado (double bass), Marcel Comendant (cimbalom)
My final report from this year’s Lammermuir festival covers the performance of the night of 14th September in Haddington’s Corn Exchange by an unusual (but technically ‘string’) quartet composed of violinist Max Baillie, cellist and Artist in Residence at the Festival Laura van der Heijden, double-bassist Misha Mullov-Abbado and cimbalom-player Marcel Comendant. The cimbalom is a Hungarian hammered dulcimer, whose distinctive sound transports the western listener instantly to Central and Eastern Europe. Various composers (e.g.; Kodály) have included it in concert pieces and, back in 2018, Scottish audiences enjoyed a trio of Hungarian folk musicians, both on the programme and in the foyer of Glasgow’s City Halls, in Thomas Dausgaard’s series of ‘Bartók Composer Roots’ concerts. If I recall correctly, that was a semi-portable cimbalom set on a table. In Haddington, we saw a concert cimbalom, which is a dedicated piece of furniture with four stout legs. Typically, chords are conveyed by rapid arpeggiation. Thus, for one night only, Haddington was twinned with Budapest, Bucharest and even Kyiv, as music by Bach, Bartók, Ravel, Brahms, Kurtág, da Falla and de la Guerre was reconnected, either with its own folk roots or, perhaps more excitingly, with those of its neighbours.
After a cimbalom introduction, we were straight in to an ingenious arrangement for the ensemble of Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances, gathered in Transylvania before the First World War, when it was still part of Hungary. The playing of the first dance was idiomatic and vital, with a touch of the exotic. The second dance was faster than usual with an added pleasing dotted rhythm. Plaintive violin over cello tremolo, followed by a gorgeous cantabile cello described the next two. The last two dances together formed a joyous Transylvanian knees-up. Excellent.
Laura spoke of how programming Bach and Bartók pieces interleaved created a dialogue which revealed the rhythmic earthiness of Bach and the cogent counterpoint of Bartók. And so it was. Turn and turn about we heard three Bach 3-part Inventions (Sinfonias Nos..12 in A, 15 in B minor and 11 in G minor) and three of Bartók’s ‘44 Duos for 2 Violins’ (Nos. 32 and 22, and No.7 ’Oláh Nóta’ – a Wallachian song melody, teasingly Middle Eastern). The effect of the pairings was as magical as it was thought-provoking.
Bassist Misha introduced the last 3 pieces before the interval. First up, a dreamy arrangement of the fifth of Manuel da Falla’s ‘7 Spanish Folksongs’, ‘Nana’. A lullaby. It was followed by two of his own compositions, ‘Red Earth’ and ‘Staircase Music’, dating from his time in university where he was in a group called ‘The Staircase Band’. The first, a plaintive bluesy duet for violin and cello with cimbalom ornamentation, led to an accelerating bass runoff/bridge, with a strong vibe of jazz improvisation. It segued into some jazzy syncopated violin not a million miles from the Django/Grappelli sound. A superb cimbalom riff was followed by a violin rhapsody. A key change heralded the last dash. Great stuff.
Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre’s 1707 7-movement Violin Sonata No.1 in D-minor was a revelation, especially with the cimbalom taking the place of a clavecin and the solo line shared between violin and cello. Sprightly dances alternated with soulful arias and there were some thrilling, surprising harmonic twists.
Violinist Max Baillie introduced the final set. Originally an accompanied vocalise study for mezzo and piano, we heard next Ravel’s evergreen ‘Pièce en forme de habanera’, with expressive violin and cello solos and double bass providing an underlying rhythm. A surprise was Laura as vocalist singing a dreamy version of Eden Ahbez’ song ‘Nature Boy’, popularised by Nat King Cole (among others), with a smoochy double-bass bridge between the verses. Lovely (despite the sound of the siren of a passing emergency vehicle outside threatening to break the spell). A pair of György Kurtág miniatures in the form of two movements from his Op.4, ‘8 Duos for cimbalom and violin’ followed. Atmospheric and spooky music at first, then more peremptory, led to music with Hungarian folk and jazz influences. Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No.1, but in a form much closer to authentic Hungarian folk music was the thrilling finale of the printed programme (barring two omissions).
The enthusiastic applause won a heart-warming encore: Laura softly singing the Scottish/Irish folksong ‘The Wild Mountain Thyme’, with the audience joining softly in the choruses. Rather special.