Tour de force from start to finish

Some impressions of the piano/’cello concert by Shani Diluka and Eric-Maria Couturier on October 14

“Did she put on his knowledge with his power?”- from “Leda & the Swan” by Yeats.

I asked myself the above question as the concert ended with Beethoven’s Op. 69 ’cello sonata. For in this major work, as also in the expansive set of variations by Beethoven on a theme by Mozart, played earlier, Shani had shown herself equal to the strenuous demands of Beethoven’s creative “power”. She took his characteristic modulations not only of key but of all the dynamics of pace, tempo, rhythm, volume, texture etc. fully in her stride. Her touch, timing and tone were unexceptionable and her execution flawless. These achievements were all the more remarkable in that she virtually sight-read the two works, her eyes barely on the keys.

Of course, her heart was really in the Grieg components of the programme, where she played alone and without the music. All concentration, she conveyed the kaleidoscopic emotional variety of these “lyrical pieces” in a tremendous display of virtuoso expression.

Though Shani’s performance was a tour de force from start to finish, her own personality did not overshadow the music but was submissive and complementary to it. The overall impression we had of her was of a charming simplicity and an unaffected grace, down to the happy smile with which she sprang up to acknowledge the applause at the end of each item.

Eric-Maria gallantly let his wife have the limelight. But this did not prevent him from shining in the opening song from Faure, where the muted piano chords provided the ideal background for the beautiful flow and tonal strength of his melodic line. And in Debussy’s exquisite sonata for piano and cello he really came into his own. He made the intense whimsicality of this work, one of Debussy’s last, his own, negotiating the enigmatic shifts of thought and feeling with skill and sensitivity. His wife partnered him brilliantly in the game of hide and seek the music made them play.

In the second half of the programme, dominated by Beethoven, Couturier’s playing continued to delight in the variations, especially his cantabile style. But tonal integrity was less consistent in the faster and shorter-note passages of the sonata, where intonation too was occasionally faulty.

Eric-Maria Couturier is yet another French ’cellist with a name ending in “ier”, the other two being Pierre Fournier and Paul Tortelier. He is clearly following in their footsteps and will surely go on to develop their power of continuous quality. It is a pity we did not have one of Bach’s ’cello suites, or at least an extract, as his own solo item in lieu of one of the Grieg piano episodes.

But on the whole the programme was well chosen, given Shani’s partiality to Grieg. The two ’cello sonatas by Beethoven and Debussy, the first of whom revolutionized musical form and the other musical language, were rightly the centrepieces of their respective programme halves. Both vied to be the piece de resistance, but the Debussy won because piano and ’cello were more finely balanced here, both as to the writing and the playing. The Beethoven variations were an added bonus and the rest the icing on the cake.

But to return to the question that furnishes the title of this article. Would Shani have sufficient “knowledge” of Beethoven’s mind to be able to interpret his greater compositions? The two that were performed were of the composer’s middle period and did not reflect the full extent of his musical genius. This was only reached in his last period, (which is why it is a pity one of the Op.102 sonatas was not preferred over 69.)

So it is to Beethoven that Shani Diluka should turn to achieve the greatness that is within her grasp. No doubt she is familiar with his well-known early and middle period sonatas from the “Pathetique” to “Les Adieux”. But I am thinking of the great “Hammerklavier” and the last three sonatas. And the 33 “Diabelli” variations. Not many have played these with success, lacking not in power but in understanding of Beethoven’s mind. I believe Shani, on her showing at this concert, is ready to engage them. Hers is a prodigious talent. And I hope she will provide us with the awaited answer to the opening question on the occasion of her next visit. Meanwhile, we are obliged to the Alliance Francaise for enabling us to hear this surely unique husband and wife team, which caused the question to be raised in the first instance.