Sara Deborah Timossi & Valentina Seferinova: Songs of Summer

 Sara Deborah Timossi & Valentina Seferinova, St. Peter's, Petersfield, June 27

Once upon a time I went all the way to the Handel House in Mayfair to hear the few minutes of the Biber Passacaglia in real life so it's not too much to go to Petersfield to hear some choice Ysaÿe. Such opportunities are rare. It's like being an ornithologist going off in search of a not-often-seen species of bird.

The magnum opus was really Mozart's Sonata KV. 454, though, first up and an ideal piece in which to witness the fine balance and understanding achieved by these two friends. I understand on no lesser authority than that of Alfred Brendel that Mozart is difficult because there's 'no hiding place'. As it happens, Sara and Valentina don't need such a thing. My first encounters with Valentina involved her explosive Romantic repertoire, like Joachim Raff, and so it's been hard to shift those first impressions of her but that little local difficulty is surely resolved now after the delicate opening Largo and the frolic of the Allegro with Sara's courtly etiquette embroidered in. The Andante was poignant as perhaps only Mozart can be, the gorgeousness completed with the sweetness and light Allegretto. People sometimes discuss which composers they'd most like to have met. I'm sure Mozart would have been memorable but he might have been a pain in the neck at times. As is often the case, it's the work we treasure irrespective of who wrote it.

The Danse Rustique from Ysaÿe's Sonata for Solo Violin, op. 27, no. 5, was as spectacular as could have been hoped. Surely not to be undertaken lightly as an example of the supreme virtuoso's masterpiece. Quite how the pizzicato notes were fitted in during the tour de force of bowing remained on the outskirts of understanding. Like the Bach Partitas that this music is surely related to, one wonders that the violinist does it with only the standard issue two hands. But Sara is a calm presence, doing it without the extravagant gestures that some either feel the need of or put in for dramatic effect.

Following our latest heatwave, conditions were perfect with the church doors left open and ultimate levels of comfort made for the ambience we might remember as being right for Songs of Summer and Romance. It was quite recently that some 'small-scale' Tchaikovsky was available in Chichester, not that he is ever knowingly small in scope. Valentina opened the second half with more such in a luxurious June from The Seasons, op. 37a, all en plein air and verdant before melting way. Lushness continued in the Three Romances, op. 22, by Clara Schumann, culminating in the rolling lyricism of the Leidenschaftlich schnell, the translation of which belies my interpretation of it.

Manuel de Falla's miniatures in Suite Populaire Espagnole expanded the variety of music further with some rich atmospherics. From the piano dance rhythms of El Pan Moruno, Sara's mute strings in Nana and into the dark heart of Polo, we were left to contemplate the possibilities of things not quite as civilized as Mozart but we also left contemplating consummate musicianship presented for the sheer pleasure of it.