The duo consisting of pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin and violinist Andrew Wan (also concertmaster of the OSM) needs no introduction. A decade of artistic complicity has brought these two individual and natural talents together in a chamber music diptych of the highest order. The recordings of Beethoven and Schumann sonatas they have made are demonstrations of very high-level musicality. Wan, and perfectly supported by Richard-Hamelin, shows a very focused concentration on the discourse and narration of the works. The young man tells a story while playing, which is already good, but in addition he has something interesting to say. On the big Québécor stage in Tremblant, the Fête de la Musique gave us the first of Brahms’ sonatas, which the two musicians have been working on for some time now and which will be part of the duo’s next album, dedicated to the German composer. We have already heard the two friends in this repertoire, at the Classica Festival earlier this year. The impression had been good, and it was again this Sunday afternoon. The Sonata, in the smiling key of G major despite its very intimate character, was deployed without exaggerated effects, Wan focusing on the interiority of the discourse and on the poised pace of expressiveness. We could have taken a little more in terms of emotions, without the risk of making a fuss, but we were nevertheless very pleased in terms of instrumental beauty and esthetic satisfaction. As a concert supplement, not another Brahms, but rather the great Sonata in A major by César Franck. We too often tend to darken this work, because it is Franck, because despite the fact that he was Belgian, we associate him with Germanism and a lush and dense Romanticism. Yet, the major key implies light and open feeling, even a certain blossoming. Wan and Richard-Hamelin understood this necessity well, despite a restraint that took a bit long to dissipate in the first movement. But the audience was rewarded with a final Allegretto poco mosso full of candor and naturalness, a perfect accompaniment to a generously sunny early afternoon at the foot of Tremblant Mountain.
période romantique
