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Kopatchinskaja trio review – swoops, swerves and whirling klezmer

Wigmore Hall, London
A sense of theatre underpinned this richly adventurous recital by pianist Polina Leschenko, clarinettist Reto Bieri and violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja

Patricia Kopatchinskaja’s combination of brilliance and mischief is usually enough to fill set the hall buzzing on its own in the violinist’s recitals. However, there were two kindred spirits on the platform with her this time: her regular, similarly adventurous pianist partner Polina Leschenko and Reto Bieri, whose clarinet seemed to be speaking directly to the audience.

At the beginning of the second half he and Kopatchinskaja were indeed vocalising, little grunts and glissandos punctuating their sonic impersonations of busy little insects in the little prelude to Leo Dick’s 2014 children’s opera The Ant and the Grasshopper – as if there were a tiny Queen of the Night on stage with her gruffer-voiced King. There were no throwaway numbers in this recital, and this tiny piece was treated to as much care and focus as the other duos: Milhaud’s upbeat Jeu, and the more obviously serious work in the first half, Vivier’s Pièce for Violin and Clarinet. For the Vivier, Bieri and Kopatchinskaja walked on while playing quietly, their lines circling each other and then coming together in mellifluous, concentrated concurrence, creating a bubble of intensity on the platform. That ended in a small but telling theatrical gesture, as Kopatchinskaja seemed to throw something and Bieri to catch it.

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from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2GOaMpD
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