Elegant and subtle
DAVID GRIMAL, a young French violinist of great artistry, offered us a recital at the Alliance Francaise last Saturday evening, November 20.
He played two works for unaccompanied violin by J. S. Bach, the Partita No.1 in b minor, and the Sonata no. 2 in a minor.
The partitas of Bach are sets of dances in the French style, and the sonatas are in the form of church sonatas in which sections alternate slow/fast/slow/fast.
These two works are part of a set of six, composed around 1718, and represent, both in terms of their virtuoso demands and their formal design, one of the high points in Bach's work.
Grimal is not a `purist,' but neither is he a flamboyant player, at least when playing the music of J. S. Bach.
His style of playing was elegant and subtle, but by no means subdued.
In the two works we heard, for example, he used vibrato as ornament and to highlight, not as constant tone quality. His understanding of this music was thorough, but at the same time unusual.
This was evident in the manner in which transitions from movement to movement were made in these pieces.
There was sometimes little and sometimes no break whatsoever between the movements, thus leaving no time for the audience to applaud, or otherwise to break the spell cast by his interpretation.
J. S. Bach's music for solo violin demands that the player take the part of several voices on one instrument.
All voices were brought out clearly through sensitive playing.
The fast movements were quite breath-takingly good yet always stately. Throughout the b minor partita, but most especially in the Sarabande, one could discern Grimal's French origins, and in his understanding of Bach's Partita as being of French inspiration.
For me, his playing recalled the Alliance Francaise's concert at Luz Church a few months ago where we were treated to French suites played on the viol da gamba.
The A minor sonata's Fugue is one of the great pieces in the repertoire, often arranged by composers for other larger forces.
But, Grimal's playing showed that such efforts are unnecessary. The voices of the fugue were all clear and well defined. Listening to this particular movement produced an eerie sensation.
In the Adagio, a steady `bass' voice iterates single repeated notes under a gently moving melody, and again, a range of expression was available to the music while remainin
g completely under control. A lesson proving that truly virtuosi music is not always the most flamboyant.
Flamboyance was in plenty, however, in Grimal's first encore - the Ballade, Sonata 3 by the Belgian violinist/composer Eugène Ysaÿe.
Grimal was permitted a second encore as well, due to the unusually enthusiastic applause.
And this in a city where applause is usually at most a tepid, if polite, response to even the best performances.
For this he returned us to the solo works of Bach-the Sara-band from the d minor partita, closing the evening in a mood of quiet reflection.
RANDALL GILES
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