Arts & Events

Though two decades apart in age, and coming from vastly different cultures, Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos and Chinese-born pianist Yuja Wang make great music together, often touring together and even recording together. On Saturday, November 13, they performed four quite different sonatas for violin and piano at Zellerbach Hall under the auspices of Cal Performances. The unifying theme of this concert was the example and influence of Johann Sebastian Bach. Featured here were two Bach sonatas for violin and keyboard plus Ferruccio Busoni’s Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano from 1898 and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Sonata for Violin and Piano from 1968. 

As Kavakos and Wang walked on stage to begin this concert, one was struck immediately by the difference in their appearance. Yuja Wang, now 34 years old, makes a fashion statement every time she appears, as has been noted especially by Janet Malcolm in her memorable New Yorker article of 2016. At Zellerbach Hall, Yuja Wang came on stage in a floor-length sequined red gown slit up the right leg. Slim and petite yet sinewy, Yuja Wang exudes sex appeal. When she sat at the piano, her right leg was bared to mid thigh, offering a view of shapely leg. By contrast, Leonidas Kavakos, who is of stocky build with shaggy dark hair now greying, wore a simple dark suit. Kavakos, unlike Wang, has the look of a serious musician. However, Yuja Wang may look like a sex-kitten; but when you hear her play you know she’s a serious and electrifying musician. 

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Keyboard in E Major, BWV 1016, opened the program. Bach here paves the way for later development of the sonata form by giving the keyboard instrument, in Bach’s time a harpsichord, both a melodic function in the treble register and a basso continuo function in the lower register. In this sonata, Bach features delightful to and fro as violin and keyboard exchange melodic phrases over a basso continuo. The first movement in this sonata is a slow Adagio, while the second is a fugal Allegro. The third movement is a delicate Adagio on a passacaglia, and the final movement is an agitated Allegro full of rapid fire triplets. Leonidas Kavakos and Yuja Wang expertly brought to the fore all the brilliant exchanges between violin and piano. 

Next on the program was Ferruccio Busoni’s Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano in E minor. This was for me a revelation. I can’t recall how long it’s been since I heard a work by Busoni. Perhaps it was his opera Doktor Faust, heard many, many years ago, though it left no lasting impression. This sonata for violin and piano, however, I found memorising. Written in 1898 when Busoni was 32 years old, it was premiered two years later in Helsinki with Busoni himself on piano. It opens with a slow movement that begins in a somewhat somber mood but shifts into a more strident mood as the piano indulges in several strong outbursts, powerfully played here by Yuja Wang. The violin then responds with strong outbursts of its own, forcefully played here by Leonidas Kavakos. The second movement is a Presto featuring a galloping tarantella. The third and final movement is twice as long as the first two combined, and it contains a rich variety of musical moods. Though it is marked Andante piutosto grave, or Andante rather grave, it offers a section of rapid fire music evoking a skipping motion. It also offers a quotation from a Bach chorale from that composer’s Anna Magdalena Notebooks, and after reworking slow themes from the first movement, it eventually comes to a surprisingly quiet ending statement that is quite moving in its gravity. 

After intermission, Yuja Wang came on stage in a skin-tight minidress of sequined turquoise. Once again, when she sat at the piano, Wang showed lots of shapely leg to mid-thigh. Kavakos, true to form, wore the same nondescript suit as in the first half of this concert. Bach’s Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Keyboard in B minor, BWV 1014, opens with the piano establishing the independence of the left and right hands, thereby calling attention to the liberation of the keyboard from its prior role as merely providing a basso continuo. Then the violin enters with extended notes, as the slow Andante movement gets underway melodically. The two slow movements, the first and third, are the true centerpieces of this sonata, beautifully performed here by Leonidas Kavakos and Yuja Wang. The two fast movements, the second and fourth, are more old fashioned in style but were brilliantly played here by Kavakos and Wang. 

The final work on the program was the Sonata for Violin and Piano in G Major by Shostakovich, who dedicated this work to violinist David Oistrakh, who premiered it with pianist Sviatoslav Richter in 1969. It opens with a brief Adagio featuring pizzicato plucking from the violinist. Then the second movement erupts in a fiery blaze, full of Shostacovich’s uniquely sardonic gestures. Included in this movement are sul ponticello passages in which violinist Leonidas Kavakos forcefully plucks the strings closer to the bridge than usual, making a glassy sound. Meanwhile, pianist Yuja Wang has her share of forceful outbursts, brilliantly played. At the close of this boldly aggressive movement, the Zellerbach audience broke into spontaneous applause for Kavakos and Wang. The third movement again offers pizzicato passages from the violin, first accompanied by low notes on the piano and later by high notes on piano. The fourth and final movement is marked Andante and includes cadenzas for both piano and violin, each brilliantly performed by Wang and Kavakos. Then, surprisingly, this rather tumultuous work ends on a quiet note of moving simplicity. 

In response to thunderous and sustained applause, Kavakos and Wang offered a single encore, which I believe was Suite italienne by Igor Stravinsky from his neo-classical period. Well, I was close! It was indeed Stravinsky. But Cal Performances informs me it was the finale, marked Dithyrambe, from Stravinsky/s Due Concertante.