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19

18

From Britten we move on quite naturally to Bridge, since we know

what a great influence the latter had on his pupil in both musical and

human terms. You’ve chosen to play two pieces written in 1905 and 1908

respectively,

Pensiero

and

Allegro appassionato

.

Impossible to overlook these pieces! As soon as we’d decided I was doing an English

programme, they had to be in there.We’re in a vein rather similar to that of Clarke;

the music is marvellously written – and, here too, written by a viola player.

I love the hint of English stiffupper lip that characterises thismusic, which is always

very melodious. But you have to be able to go beyond that aspect in order to keep

it free of any suggestion of blandness. I endeavoured to dig deeply into the textures

and the harmonies and to make the most of the dialogue with the piano in order

to achieve a result as lively and varied as possible, so as to do full justice to what is

really quite ardent music. These two pieces are little gems.

ADRIEN LA MARCA

ENGLISH DELIGHT

Before Britten’s

Lachrymae

(1950), you go back to the source of the work,

and one of the sources of English music as a whole, with two songs by

John Dowland,

Flow my tears

and

If my complaints could passions move

.

I’ve tried the experience of performing these two songs before

Lachrymae

several

times in concert. I think it’s very useful for the listener to hear them in order to

penetrate more deeply into this absolute masterpiece of Britten, with which they

are so closely linked. Every time I play

Lachrymae

in public I can gauge the impact

it has on the audience. When it’s over, the applause always takes a few seconds to

come.

Lachrymae

is a labyrinth that draws us into an extremely different world, or

rather worlds. In that respect, one needs to bear in mind that the complete title

is

Lachrymae: Reflections on a song of Dowland

. The subtitle should be taken in the

two senses of the word, ‘meditation’ and (physical) ‘reflection’. In fact the whole

universe of Dowland is expressed here through the prism of Britten. When I talk

to listeners after performing this work, they generally tell me how surprised they

are by the diversity of the viola’s expressive palette.

Lachrymae

begins with the

instrument muted, in a very intimate atmosphere. Everything changes with the

fourth variation,

Allegro con moto

: from then on the viola sings, it declaims. At the

seventh variation,

Alla valse moderato

, though, the mood becomes calmer with a

valse triste

that seems to want to make time stand still. Equally astonishing is the

eighth,

Allegro marcia

, a highly rhythmic piece whose swaying rhythm is rather

reminiscent of jazz. The ninth variation,

Lento

, is a veritable aquarelle in sound. As

to the tenth,

L’istesso tempo

, it brilliantly prepares the final emergence of the theme

of

If my complaints could passions move

. After we’ve traversed the length and breadth

of Britten’s harmonic world, the appearance of this theme in its pristine purity is

genuinely magical.