On Saturday, while the sky was gloomy and the weather’s indecisiveness lingered, we enjoyed a most pleasing recital, by cellist Ariana Kashefi and pianist Petr Limonov. They gave us the distinctive joy of chamber music, where the cello and piano were woven with each other in both the most simplistic beauty and the most complex melodious interplay. Their programme of Henry Eccles, Amy Beach, Nikolai Myaskovsky, and Sergei Rachmaninov covered three centuries. Although mostly of a romantic orientation (apart from Eccles), Myaskovsky’s composition was written when Russian art was strictly controlled by the Soviet regime while Rachmaninov’s Cello Sonata, his most celebrated chamber music piece, showed the height of Romanticism. I think the programme exquisitely displayed both instruments’ capacity in full. In our intimate setting, where you can hear the tiniest tremble and no mistake is forgiven, we totally appreciated the whole range of tonal beauty by both artists; how incredibly touching the cello’s most subtle yet crystal clear long phrases were. And the contrastingly percussive notes, which were punchy. And the deepest sounds, which strongly engaged us to the core.  And the pianist Petr, he absolutely and instinctively knew how to sing and voice the piano, his dynamism was embracing and softness, heart-wrenching. Together, the duo’s stand-out performance left huge imprints on our memories.

Petr seemed to have a strong inclination to Nikolay Myaskovsky’s Cello Sonata. He mentioned that although it sounds very romantic, it is deceptive – it contains a lot of yearning coming out from the composer. And sure enough, we could hear and feel the yearningness and slight hesitation. The first movement was deeply personal with the theme rather somber yet somewhat unsure as if searching for something. Although not overly dramatic, the subtle beauty of the cello stood out, and felt as if the intimate accompaniment by the piano was gently dressing the cello with the finest fabric which draped flawlessly.

The whole evening was filled with beauty, but the slow movement of Rachmaninov’s Cello Sonata was hard to beat. The initial piano passage was indescribably touching; not overly emotional or artificial for the sake of the effect, but Petr’s approach was simple and gently rocking and whispering to the audience while waiting to receive the cello’s entrance. And when Ariana’s magical melody came in, with the most gorgeous vibratos, I couldn’t hold back my tears!

The evening completed with the slow movement of Chopin’s Cello Sonata. Totally blissful.