Matthew Jones viola & Michael Hampton piano
Viola and piano works by Shostakovich, Brahms and Bowen
Blackheath Summer Sundays, Blackheath Halls 20 June 2004

This was another puzzling recital by a duo which deserves to be taken seriously. Something must be wrong when York Bowen comprehensively upstages Shostakovich and Brahms!

Their previous recital was notable for a gentle account of Bach's Chaconne before playing which Matthew Jones had forgotten to remove his practice mute! He was generally overpowered by his pianist and Musical Pointers recommended Michael Hampton to not have the piano wide open, a dubious solution for balance problems.

Hampton could not be faulted today, and balance was good in Shostakovich, reasonable in Brahms and perfect in York Bowen's 1918 virtusosic Phantasy, a major tripartite piece in one movement which sent the audience home very happy. It was one of several inspired by the playing of Lionel Tertis and hopefully this duo will be going on to record them; it suited them today far better than the other music.

Shostakovich composed his viola sonata in hospital, and had it delivered to his publisher three days before he died. A very lugubrious work, not lightened by 'spot the quotations', those from his own music and others'. Most easily recognised was the Moonlight sonata! A sad way to face eternity.

The Brahms Op 120/1 was originally for clarinet, which holds its own against piano easily. I've often preferred the viola version, especially on CDs. Did this morning's problems lie with the composer or with Jones? Michael Hampton played with full grasp of its complex textures and as if he had thoroughly absorbed it. It must be a central work in every violist's repertoire, but Matthew Jones was curiously tentative, again and again one wished that a phrase would sing out and flower. An inward account of the score, which failed to project into the audience. Another session with Jones' flamboyant viola teacher Rivka Golani would be in order?

All the problems vanished with the Bowen, which set me wondering if it was Brahms who should be blamed for being insufficiently radical in transcribing the sonata for viola? Apparently the Bowen Phantasy was thought impossibly difficult at first, when Lionel Tertis was beginning to reveal the potential of the viola. The piano writing is unbuttoned and Michael Hampton revelled in this score (York Bowen learnt piano at the Conservatory next door to Blackheath Halls, and went on to become the first pianist to record Beethoven's 4th Concerto).

The whole range of the viola is exploited and Matthew Jones lost his inhibitions and found an unsuspected richness in his instrument, bringing the recital (and this year's Blackheath Sunday Mornings) to a brilliant close.

See earlier reviews of this duo at Blackheath and at South Bank.