This was a “Viennese” evening “par excellence”. Could it be otherwise with works by Schubert, Beethoven and Kreisler? Of course not. The atmosphere with its beautiful and superbly performed music rekindled the “gemütlichkeit” of the Austrian capital. I just felt I was there and listened with eyes closed for most of the time. I found it so “träumlich”!

It is very difficult to add to what was experienced at the Aula Mgr. Giuseppe Farrugia yesterday evening. Andrea Gajic was back for her second appearance during this edition, having wowed the audience during the opening concert of the Festival performing the Mendelssohn Concerto with the MPO directed by Philip Walsh. Yesterday’s was a very intimate experience which is one of the great pleasures afforded by chamber music.

Schubert, the songster from Nußdorf sings no matter what he composes. Thus was the Rondo in B minor, D. 895 with violin and piano at a par sharing and interacting in wondrous manner and complete rapport.

Beethoven’s rightly famous Kreutzer Sonata (N.9, in A Major Op.47) is truly monumental. The piano part is the strongest he had written to date (1802-4). The violin’s role is equally important and as Andrea Gajic said to me after the performance, while she performed with one voice Aaron Schorr performed with FOUR. It was a superlative and unforgettable interpretation from beginning to end. More the pity that after composing his 10th sonata in this genre, it turned out to be Beethoven’s last last.

The relatively brief pair which are Kreisler’s most popular short salon pieces, are a quintessential throwback to late Imperial Vienna. Liebesleid and Liebesfreud date to 1910, just four years before the outbreak of World War One which was to destroy the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy as well as the German, Tsarist and in the long run, the Ottoman Empire too. The pieces are brief reflections on the sorrow and joy so intertwined in the bitter-sweet world of love. There is an air of nostalgia about the pieces so charmingly projected and which definitely were lapped up by die-hard romantics.

The applause was quite vociferous and one thinks that after such a taxing programme (especially with the first two works) the Kreisler pieces could be considered a pre-planned encore.

I could not but hope that one day this marvellous duo would perform the Franck Sonata. “Next time,” smiled Andrea Gajic. Would to God they did!!

Albert George Storace