Wallfisch Fiddles & Sally-Anne Sings
by
Lyn Bronson
Elizabeth Wallfisch, Emlyn Ngai, Amelia Roosevelt and Rachel Evans
You might call the Monday
evening concert of the 2006 Carmel Bach Festival “Libby Wallfisch’s Dueling
Strings,” for she was very much in evidence during the evening in various
concerto configurations. She performed two solo violin concertos, one for two
violins with Emlyn Ngai and the great Vivaldi Concerto for four violins in which
Rachel Evans and Amelia Roosevelt joined Wallfisch and Ngai. Overflowing with
boundless energy, she seemed as fresh and energetic at the end of this strenuous
evening as she did at the beginning.
In the opening work on the
evening’s program, Wallfisch and Ngai dueled their way through the Vivaldi
Concerto for Two Violins in G Major, and it was fascinating to observe two
dramatically different approaches to making music. Wallfisch is constantly in
motion, doing more weaving than a quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, while
Ngai is relatively motionless and inner directed. This resulted in Ngai’s
performance sounding more refined and controlled, while Wallfisch’s playing was
subject to little spikes of energy and accents that are occasionally
distracting. Although Wallfisch’s supercharged energy almost overwhelms the
music she performs, she certainly has her loyal fans, and they love every note.
In the Vivaldi Concerto in E
Minor, Op. 11, No. 2, that followed, we heard some fine playing by Wallfisch —
by this time I had learned to listen with my eyes closed to eliminate the
“perpetual motion” distractions. Especially successful was her lovely
performance of the heartfelt second movement, in which her exquisite shaping of
the embellished melodies was very moving indeed.
Any performance of the Vivaldi
Concerto for Four Violins is an experience to treasure, for this concerto, no
matter how many times you have heard it, never fails to make a powerful effect.
Wallfisch, Ngai, Evans and Roosevelt (why does that sound like a Washington, D.C,
law firm) played this work with boundless energy at breakneck speeds and charmed
us all the way. I have heard this work in the version for four keyboards, but
last night’s performance convinced me that the violin version wins hands down.
Libby Wallfisch had one more ace
up her sleeve in the Vivaldi Concerto in D Major Il Grosso Moghul, that
ended the program This was her best playing yet, and in the extraordinarily long
cadenza to the final movement (almost as long as the cadenza to Tchaikovsky’s
“Overture to 1812”) she really blew us away. Incidentally, Wallfisch’s
concentration during this cadenza was so intense she seemed frozen and
motionless for the longest period I had ever observed for her.
Mezzo-Soprano Sally-Anne Russell
Mezzo-soprano Sally-Anne Russell
shared the limelight in this concert and treated us to a moving performance of
selections from Handel’s cantata La Lucrezia and two selections from
Handel’s Xerxes. She has a glorious big voice and a winning stage presence and
even did some clowning with the irrepressible Ms. Wallfisch, much to the
amusement of the audience.
