A feast of classical music
View(s):The Mano Chanmugam Music Foundation (MCMF) took a major leap forward when it presented a concert at the Oak Room Cinnamon Grand Hotel on February 12, 2014 by a trio of internationally acclaimed classical musicians – our very own Shani Diluka (piano) in collaboration with the dynamic young French violinist Gabriel le Magudure and the celebrated Austrian cellist, Valentin Erben.
The evening’s programme consisted of works by Debussy, Mozart, Beethoven, Grieg and Schubert. This programme seemed to have been designed to showcase both the individual, collaborative and interpretive talents of the performers and their technical prowess. This aim was tellingly achieved at various stages of the performance. Shani Diluka hailed as one of the greatest talents of her generation lived up to this accolade. Her solid and flawless technique backed by her unique ability to literally squeeze every bit of passion and
Gabriel, Shani and Valentin performing in Colombo
emotion from virtually every note she played, made her playing “a thing of beauty” . Her fluid and sensitive phrasing and transition from “shade to light” delivered with authority and youthful dash was a revelation – a true expression of heart, soul and body moving in harmony.
The performance of the violinist Gabriel le Magudure of Ebene Quartet fame was scintillating. His fingertips appeared to be on fire and his bow a magic wand with which he caressed, kissed and then smothered the quivering strings of his violin in bursts of passion. The interplay between the piano and violin especially in the Mozart Sonata for Piano & Violin in “E” minor K 304 was lyrically performed. The rendering of Schubert’s Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello No: 02 in “E” flat was both lyrical, strident and at the finale electrifying, with both piano and violin engaging each other and traversing the full gamut of emotions.
The celebrated cellist Valentine Erben playing his 291-year-old instrument, provided a sensitively crafted canvas of resonance, tonal colour and depth against which the power and fire of the youthful pianist and violinist interplayed with telling effect, throughout the entire concert. His was a performance full of maturity and quiet authority delivered with the finesse of a master technician. The Sonata for Piano and Cello by Beethoven in “A” major Op 69 provided the space and time for him to give us but a glimpse of his mastery of the instrument and the limpid sounds he could produce from it.
Their collaborative brilliance and rapport was displayed in full measure in the Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello No: 02 in “E” flat major by Schubert. The sustained interplay of emotion and power displayed by Shani and Gabriel against the resonance of the rich sounds provided by the cello was both breath taking and elevating and proved to be a fitting finale to the evening’s programme.
This work was really the icing on the cake that had been baked over a three-hour period, although very few in the audience would have even noticed the lapse of time. Shani, Gabriel and Valentine had with the intensity of their musicianship taken classical music to a new high, and to use a modern phrase brought it “up close and personal” to an enthralled audience. I would be failing in my duty if I did not say a “big thank you” to Mano Chanmugam and Neomal de Alwis, the founders of the Mano Chanmugam Music Foundation for singlehandedly organizing this event.
-Nihal Wiratunga