Hoebig-Moroz

A very pleasant concert yesterday at noon featuring the violin-piano duo of Gwen Hoebig and David Moroz. On the program were Beethoven's 10th Sonata, Brahms' 2^nd Sonata, and two contemporary works by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.

Hoebig's sound is truly beautiful. She has a marvellous warm timber which fit perfectly with pianist Moroz playing on a Steinway Grand, and there was some absolutely wonderful shaping and expressive interplay between the two instruments.

The musicians had just recently arrived from Calgary, however, and there were visibly some rusty fingers at the beginning of the performance. The Brahms sonata wasn't therefore quite as perfect as might otherwise have been the case, though the piece is such a crowd-pleaser that most in the audience –including myself- were more than ready to forgive the occasional tentative passage.

Neither of the two works by Arvo Pärt were on the programme, which I found surprising given that they both looked extremely difficult. I've heard of musicians replacing a difficult piece with an easy one, but the reverse is less often encountered! Their success was hard to judge. Some people in the audience were visibly elated but others looked bored stiff. For my part, I was ambivalent. The execution was good, but they didn't sell me on the musical interest of the work.
In contemporary music where many passages are not easily accessible, the performer needs to work especially hard to keep the audience's attention. With a few more dramatic volume and tempo contrasts, I suspect that I would have found it easier to stay focused on the music.

The Beethoven 10th Sonata was a delight. It's a work that usually sounds good, but this duo really made it special by exaggerating the contrasts that are so essential to Beethoven. Hoebig's sound, although very lovely, is also quite small. I would have been happy with twice as much sound for the whole duration of the concert, but for lack of having both a big sound and being beautiful, it's better to be beautiful!