One of the finest musical events in the Rye area is the Peasmarsh Chamber Music Festival in June and two of its most magical performers are violinist Anthony Marwood, its co-director, and pianist Aleksandar Madzar. They produced that magic once again in their St Mary’s Church recital on the first Tuesday of the Rye Arts Festival.
Each of the four works making up their programme revealed different aspects of the artistry of what must be one of the most accomplished partnerships in music. They began with a wonderfully persuasive account of the unfamiliar Janacek Violin Sonata followed by a complete change of period and style with a compelling and vivid second Opus 30 sonata of Beethoven.
After the interval, yet another stylistic change brought us a beautiful performance of Ravel’s posthumously published sonata and the magic was brought to a splendid conclusion with Prokofiev’s work for flute and piano adapted for violin by the composer, an adaptation suggested by David Oistrakh to whom Anthony Marwood is a very distinguished successor.
Anthony moved us all with a brief address in which he spoke of being captivated by Rye and its surroundings when he came to the area to play many years ago, so much so that he made his home very nearby. We are extremely fortunate to have Anthony and Aleksandar to play for us and are proud to have Anthony as a local resident.
A few words more: firstly, those who missed the brilliant Busch Trio the following Thursday “shall think themselves accursed they were not here”: the huge Tchaikovsky Piano Trio was stupendous. Secondly, hats off to the two young people who page-turned for these two concerts: their invaluable contributions were perfect: calm, unobtrusive and accurate.
Photo: Rye and District Camera Club
Image Credits: Rye & District Camera Club .