Above: Richard Tognetti played  Sculthorpe’s Irkanda I for solo violin. Featured image: Pianist Polina Leschenko and Richard Tognetti

This recital was a commanding display of musicianship and instrumental skill. Works from the early to late Romantic period contrasted with compositions from the second half of the twentieth century.

At all times the expressive power of instrumental music was celebrated in the four programmed works. Vivid scenes were created in solo or ensemble moments with impressive technical prowess to the fore. A sensitive blend was present in all communication.

Polina Leschenko’s clarity and directness as a pianist enhanced all works she was part of. Her remarkable soft playing and knife-edge distinctions between layers of nuance were a thrill to witness. This backdrop for Richard Tognetti’s intricate violin lines and the clean momentum of violin and piano combined celebrated the chosen works of Pärt, Beethoven, Sculthorpe and Brahms.

The programme structure toggled between two twentieth-century works and two from the nineteenth century in strong juxtaposition. Jumping straight into the most modern work of the programme, the pair presented pure, concise atmosphere throughout Arvo Pärt’s Fratres (1980). This piano and violin version still maintains Pärt’s minimalist energy regardless of the reduction in forces from the original version.

Tognetti precisely captured Pärts repetitions in veiled tone, mirrored in the skilfully expressive piano accompaniment. Sudden accents and contrasts in the piano to signpost the development of intensities along the journey were effective but satisfyingly never overplayed.

The balance in this version between the exposed pair of instruments was expertly handled and the required mystical smoothness resulted. This, the most recent work on the programme was followed by the oldest and perhaps most well-known.

Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No 5 in F major Op 24-‘Spring’ (1801) emerged with fine fluidity of motif. This neatly phrased approach from both recitalists to open the work nicely demonstrated Beethoven’s adherence to and some departure from Classical structure and gesture.

Freedoms and flexibility in this work’s faster movements were negotiated effectively by this pair of sincere musical conversationalists. These moments further enhanced Beethoven’s typical sudden accents, dynamic shifts, rhythmic complexity or virtuosic runs which feature in this work.

Tognetti’s projection during the ‘Adagio molto espressivo’ second movement filled the space with measured lyricism as the duo traversed its intense stillness. Following interval came one of Tognetti’s unique and characteristic concert stage innovations. Moving back to the twentieth century, we heard his solo violin echo the inimitable creativity of Peter Sculthorpe in Irkanda I (1955), complete with bird effects.

The audience was instructed via announcement not to applause following this work as it would continue virtually with very little break into the final Brahms work. This segue’s huge contrast, whilst denying us the chance to clap, brought the contrasting works into an unusually interesting close proximity. This actually worked well as the spellbinding timelessness of evoking place in Irkanda I did gel nicely with the sombre nature which starts Brahms’ Violin Sonata No 3 in D minor Op 108 (1888)

I once read an intriguing Brahms quote which observed “The ideal genuine man is calm in joy and calm in pain and sorrow”. If interpretative confidence and accurately drawn character could be seen as calmness, then this emotional delivery by Tognetti and Leschenko which obliterated technical or ensemble obstacles matched this quote from the great composer perfectly. The performance and recital fully deserved the ovation and several encores which followed.