YORKSHIRE POST
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 4 1995
Marat Bisengaliev (Violin) and Richard Ellis (Piano)
Christchurch, llkley
Donald Webster
"ANYONE who can't see greatness in the violin sonatas of Brahms needs his skull examining." So said my old university professor, Arthur Hutchings. "Hear, hear," would be said by all the patrons of Saturday's concert.
Song-like themes and powerful transitional workings in the D Minor formed afascinating parallel with thesoloist's Slavonic temperament and the composer's brooding earnestness.
Deeply felt expression and the close-knit interplay of violin and piano produced an effect that must have been similar to that created by the composer and his violinist companion, Remenyi. The principal theme of the Sonata's gorgeous slow movement soared as if on angels' wings. Bisengaliev's bravura one could take for granted: his musicianship was a continual source of
pleasurable interest. Bach's Violin Sonata No.2 is a highly romanticised form — with lots of vibrato took us back 60 years. The piano tone sour' rather inflexible, but the playing had commitinent, and the Allegro movements especially an appealing geniality.
Bisengaliev's world class was confirmed in his tasteful accounts of a group of salon pieces whose barely credible virtuosic demands were played with loving care and character, clean chromatic double stops, and confident harmonics. Richard Ellis was an admirably alert and versatile partner.
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