James Ehnes, classical review: 'A rich, bright and muscular sound'
Wigmore Hall, London
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The young Canadian fiddler James Ehnes is not so much in love with the violin as with specific instruments, of which he is a connoisseur, and in pursuit of which - most notably a 1715 Strad - he has spent much of his energy.
After falling in love with that Strad’s sound, he was led a dance lasting years: he had it as a loan, had to yield it up to a buyer, then it came back on the market, and was finally bought by a rich friend who gave it him on permanent loan ‘to stop me whining about it’.
With Ehnes’s duo partner suddenly taken ill, that Strad came centre-stage for Ehnes’s substitute solo programme: two of Bach’s greatest violin works, Partitas 2 and 3. And one saw immediately what he was talking about: the sound was rich, bright, and muscular as he launched into the tumbling figurations of the opening Prelude.
His playing was exemplarily clean, with beautifully-handled echo effects, but there wasn’t much poetry. Only in the final Chaconne did he reveal the full extent of his artistry, letting its architecture grow until it climaxed in a blaze of glory, before dying back down to a confiding intimacy
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments