EIF: María Dueñas & Alexander Malofeev

Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, 4/8/25

María Dueñas (violin), Alexander Malofeev (piano)

The Edinburgh International Festival Queen’s Hall chamber concert on 4th August presented Spanish violinist María Dueñas and Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev in a programme of three sonatas, by Szymanowski, Debussy and Franck.  Both musicians are young award-winning artists in their twenties with recording contracts, Maria with Deutsche Grammophon, Alexander with Sony.  She has two album releases under her belt; his first is in the pipeline.

Szymanowski’s 1904 Sonata in D minor Op. 9 is the work of a young man in his twenties and very much of the Late Romantic sound world.  The first of its three movements opens with a bold call to attention, launching a passionate theme with chromaticism contrasted with arpeggiation, ranging across the compass of the instrument, all with flawless tone and intonation. The second theme was more tranquil and wistful, with exquisite sotto voce playing sul tasto.  An idyllic episode afforded the opportunity to savour another aspect of the instrument’s rich range of timbres. The writing accorded equal prominence to the two instruments and the mutual responsiveness of the phrasing confirmed that the musical partnership of the duo is no less well-matched, as the passionate and tender moments received a sympathetic reading.  Alexander’s chamber pianism delivers expression and subtlety as needed. The Andantino, an idyllic rhapsodic Romance with a playful dancing pizzicato central episode, was delicious, with a final passionate outpouring before a calm finish. The finale, urgent and ardent, returned to stormy passion, concluding with a tender, calmer rhapsody.  Fabulous piece; fabulous playing.

Debussy’s 1917 Sonata, by contrast, is the work of an older, gravely ill man near the end of life.  Yet there is no wallowing in morbid thoughts. None of the three movements is slow and there is a life-affirming optimism about the music, even if some of the mood is wistful.  Impressionistic visualisations abound in the first movement, with thematic material that is plundered for colour in the subsequent movements – they received lovely cantabile playing on the violin over shimmering pianism.  The second movement is a scampering playful dance with lyrical elements interleaved, with some quotations from the first movement and a “dizzy dancer” coda. The piano’s impressionistic fluttering opens the finale, but the violin heads off with rapid rhapsodic lyricism ranging across the instrument, urgent and with vital forward drive – the piano is compelled to follow.  They even swap roles for a bit.  The dynamic balance remained perfect, with subtlety when needed from the piano and boundless oomph when needed from the violin.  A final rapid, lyrical scurry furnished the life-affirming coda.

But Franck’s ever-popular 1886 4-movement Sonata was what most of the well-attended Queen’s Hall had come to hear.  It is a work that my father, a fine amateur violinist, used to play often, a favourite of his and therefore, inevitably, of mine.  Maria played it from memory.  The sweet rhapsodic chromatic lyricism of the first movement received a sympathetic cantabile outing with subtle but engaging rubato, perfect chamber playing from both players.  The stormy passion of the Scherzo was richly expressive and compelling, with magical stillness in the contemplative repeated ‘Trio’ and a driven coda.  The theatrical recitative and resolute arioso elements of the slow movement drew the listener in to an imagined drama, the quotations of earlier melodic elements elegantly pointed.  The joyful canonic optimism of the finale was infectiously communicated with committed and engaging playing, the piano’s lead-in to the violin’s reprise of the recurring ‘resolute’ motif being particularly fine. The final dash of the coda was radiant.  As compelling a reading of the masterpiece as I have heard. The Queen’s Hall audience concurred.

The applause was rewarded with a stylish idiomatic encore: a violin and piano arrangement of a Piazzola tango, appropriately titled ‘Yo soy María’, with a solo violin prologue, which I suspect was Maria’s own composition.  Thoroughly marvellous.