Anthony Marwood and Les Violons du Roy visited Salle Bourgie on Friday evening for a concert featuring some rather unusual works, but which after listening to them in the company of these seasoned musicians, will certainly occupy a greater place in people’s memories.
Marwood makes a great impression on stage. His powerful playing and showmanship make him an exciting and enjoyable concertmaster. He performs virtuoso and, above all, highly charged melodic lines with brio and skill. During the second piece, by Mendelssohn, he conducted as a soloist, and his humble, confident presence seemed to center the orchestra around him. There can be no doubt about the quality of Les Violons du Roy’s musicians. Each section performed the often highly complex scores of the three works presented with accuracy and intensity, even in support. Isaac Chalk’s exemplary work on the viola was also noteworthy, with large solo sections in the last piece, whose sonorities were almost reminiscent of a full wind section.
What can we say about the works performed? We can start with the fact that all three works were composed during the youth of all three composers. The first work, Edward Elgar’s Serenade for Strings in E minor, was composed in 1892 at the age of 35 and predates his final musical maturation. It’s an uplifting, almost intoxicating work that sweeps you away with its enchanting largesse and sonorities. The second work, composed at the age of 13 by Felix Mendelssohn, is the Concerto for Violin and Strings No. 1 from 1822. The composition is simpler and more formal, but there is an energy and intensity both for the soloist and the surrounding orchestra. The style is almost classical (Mendelssohn had clearly not yet acquired his own style), but one senses the near emergence of a new language.
The final work is more paradoxical. Georges Enescu’s Octet in C major, fabulously arranged by none other than Anthony Marwood, bears witness to the ardour and ambition of the young composer who wrote it. Enescu was 19 in 1900, the date of the composition, and he clearly had a lot to say. Perhaps too much, because it’s easy to lose track of all the different ideas presented to us. The musical ideas are very interesting, but the note overload and lack of continuity leave the listener a little at a loss. It’s a work of quality, but it also shows that, sometimes, trying to say too much means saying too little in the end.
All in all, this was a very successful concert for Les Violons du Roy. Salle Bourgie is indeed well suited to this format and this ensemble. We hope to hear more of them in the future!
For more info about the Violon du Roy’s programming, click HERE.
