Music
Oxford Philomusica
Sheldonian Theatre
You can argue about which
work in Music
at Oxford's most recent concert came out
on top. My money is on Brahm's Double
Concerto winning by a canvas over his
second Symphony. Its nose-in-front position
was partly guaranteed by the hustling
performance of the two soloists, Thomas
Bowes on violin, Raphael Wallfisch on cello.
These two alerted audience-response like
true stars, with the Sheldonian's firm
acoustic proving particularly friendly to
Wallfisch's broad, dramatic bowing.
If the cello's initial recitative,
and unaccompanied
dialogue with violin, denote mostly Brahm's
anxiety to spotlight his soloists, you could have
fooled me. Here was Wallfisch making it lustily
clear he would never be muffled, come all the
forces of the orchestra against him and leaving
us to enjoy a moment of high, declamatory rhetoric.
He and Bowes then struck a vein of gutsy utterance
providing, at times, an illusion of heady recklessness.
It well became the sharply contrasted themes of the
outer movements; and the approach was unerringly
sustained, both soloists in almost telepathic touch....
Derek Jole - June 13 2003