Superb Ensemble of Violin & Piano
by
Lyn Bronson
Move over Gil Shaham and Joshua Bell. There’s a new boy in town, Timothy Fain,
and he has it all — charisma, superb musicianship and a fantastic virtuosity
that serves the music without calling unnecessary attention to itself. We had
heard Fain once previously when he appeared here as first violinist with the
Rosetti String Quartet, and his performance was a knockout on that occasion. But
last night’s appearance with Israeli pianist Rina Dokshitsky in a sonata recital
presented at All Saints’ Church in Carmel by the Mozart Society of California
was even more impressive.
The centerpiece of this recital was Bach’s unaccompanied Partita in D Minor, BWV
1004, which contains the great Chaconne, a work that pianists have appropriated
in transcriptions by Busoni, Siloti and even a version for left hand alone by
Brahms. This demanding work requires the violinist to maintain extraordinarily
intense concentration for fifteen minutes without interruption as this music
develops in a complex way, so powerfully that once heard it can never be
forgotten. Although we accept that even some great violinists have problems with
intonation, especially in the higher positions, and in harmonics and octaves,
one of the first things we noticed about Fain’s playing was how beautifully in
tune it always was. His precise intonation was a joy to hear, and this combined
with the naturalness of his shaping the musical line and his total command of
the instrument added up to some really first class artistic playing. Sometimes
Fain’s virtuosity made the Chaconne sound almost too easy, for there are a few
climatic passages so difficult that slowing them down to an
Allargando not only makes them easier
to play, but also imparts to the listener the magnitude of the difficulties, and
also the heroic struggle and ultimate victory over the challenges faced. In this
sense, Fain’s performance of the Chaconne at times seemed almost glib, as he
made even the most difficult passages sound too easy. Nevertheless, most of his
playing of this piece was pure gold and totally absorbing. One of the great
moments in his performance was in the middle, right after a significant cadence
as the piece came to a halt in D minor. After a lengthy and meaningful pause,
the work continued in the suddenly brighter key of D major. This section began
so softly at the almost inaudible level of triple pianissimo, yet even at these
softest levels, his sound had direction and intensity. I found I was holding my
breath in an attempt to savor and preserve this delicious moment. The remaining
movements of Partita were solid and consistently fascinating, and he played them
with a fine sense of style, lovely intense dynamics and impeccable rhythmic
vitality.
Since this concert was presented by the Mozart Society of California, there was
one obligatory Mozart work, the Sonata in G Major, K.379. This piece was more of
a piano sonata with violin obligato, thus it turned out to be an opportunity for
us to hear the splendid playing of pianist Dokshitsky. Her playing is easy to
admire, for she plays with ultimate naturalness and considerable charm. Every
note she plays has meaning and purpose — this may sound like a peculiar
statement, but we have all heard pianists whose playing is impeccable and
precise, but says nothing. It is pleasing to report that Ms. Dokshitsky’s playing is
supremely musical and relevant to the music she plays.
The most surprising work on the program was the Mendelssohn Sonata in F Minor,
Op. 4, a work allegedly written when he was eleven years old. Well, maybe the
jury is still out on this question, but this piece is an impressive achievement
for a composer of any age. This sonata is also a surprisingly dark work full of
an anguish and angst, and both the violin and keyboard parts are equally
significant. After the wonderfully expressive middle movement, in which both
artists played with profound expression, the last movement had some lovely and
intense surprises — the development section really blew us away.
The concert ended with a friendly face as Fain and Dokshitsky gave us a lovely
and strong performance of Beethoven’s “Spring” Sonata. All the charm of this
great work was superbly revealed in some of the finest ensemble playing we heard
during this evening. We would love to hear these artists perform some of the
other great masterpieces of the literature, like Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata,
and the Franck Violin Sonata. Let’s hope they will be back soon.
The musicians gave us one encore, a Mendelssohn “Song without Words” transcribed
by Kreisler.
