Between intimacy and turmoil, the young BIMF talents brilliantly performed the Sonatas Op. 30 by Beethoven

 
by Enzo Garofalo

New exploit of the young talents of the Bari International Music Festival who, since May 24, have been providing one of the most engaging Italian chamber music festivals to the regional capital. In the penultimate concert on the bill, introduced by Stefania Gianfrancesco and held as usual in the baroque church of Santa Teresa dei Maschi, we found them dealing with three compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven, the Sonatas for violin and piano Op. 30, famous for the contrasting moods and feelings that make them particularly challenging in terms of expression. These works date back to one of the most vulnerable periods in the life of the author, who was becoming deaf, and divided between dark suicidal thoughts, and an unusual spirit of humor and whimsy, that take shape particularly in the Sonata No. 3 in G major, which also features dramatic shades.

Preceded by n. 1 in A major with its lingering echoes of Mozart and Haydn but already marked, especially in the finale, to that personal inventive force that would later distinguish Beethoven from his predecessors, the third Sonata has seen starring two of the musicians that these days we have repeatedly been able to appreciate on the BIMF stage: pianist David Fung and violinist Dennis Kim. Fung – who is also the artistic director of the Festival, and therefore author of its highly refined programs – has given wide coverage to the important role played by the piano in these sonatas which not coincidentally were originally published as “sonatas for piano with accompaniment of the violin.” Mr. Fung interpreted Beethoven with extreme sensitivity, accurate phrasing, clear, soft and intense touch, qualities these to which the BIMF public has become accustomed but still each time continue to be surprised by. As well as the beauty and depth of the sound of the violin of Dennis Kim, his perfect pitch, his calibrated virtuosity continue to surprise.

The sounds bloom and compose a sumptuous fresco in the last piece in the program too, perhaps the most exciting of the three, the Sonata in C minor, no. 2. A piece that explores the expressive potential of both instruments more completely, this Sonata has been this time entrusted to two other talented musicians, already seen over the past days on the stage of this exciting festival. The piano featured the young Angelo Nasuto, winner of the BIMF Award 2013, and therefore invited to join the cast of the 2014 edition. From moments of subdued restlessness to moments of explosive fury and nostalgic lyricism, Nasuto was able to retrace the complex range of feelings weaving this Beethoven’s masterpiece, whose execution was shared with the extraordinary violin of Liya Petrova, certainly one of the great and undisputed protagonists of this festival: hers is the realm of sounds chiseled with the most superb intensity, and a wonderful empathy circuit runs between her, her instrument, and the emotion of the audience, ready to burst into thunderous applauses, as those reserved once again to her and all her excellent colleagues.