O1C in Cyberspace: Patrick Galvin

Violinist Patrick Galvin (from his O1C event page)

Last night Old First Concerts (O1C) continued its series of live-streamed solo recitals with a performance by San Francisco violinist Patrick Galvin. For the most part the program consisted of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach and Eugène Ysaÿe, beginning with Bach’s BWV 1006.1 partita in E major. This is frequently followed by the second of Ysaÿe’s Opus 27 sonatas, which begins with a warped virtuoso reflection on the opening preludio of the Bach sonata. Instead, Galvin selected the fourth and third Ysaÿe sonatas in that order.

The Bach preludio is so familiar that it often distracts from the five dance movements that follow. The selection and ordering of those movements departs significantly from the dance movements encountered in most of Bach’s partitas and suites. Perhaps because the preludio is so intensely energetic, Bach’s first dance is the stately Loure, giving the violinist an opportunity to catch his breath. There follows a sequence of three dance forms when only one of them will appear in almost all of the other partitas and suites. First there is a gavotte in rondo form, followed by the familiar pairing of two menuets, which then leads to a bourée. Only the selection of a gigue for the final movement brings the listener back to usual expectations.

Galvin’s performance presented an engaging account of all of the dance movements, giving each its own rhetorical character, rather than just relying on familiar rhythms to “delivery the message.” He also seemed to appreciate that the entire partita was framed by the “high energy” movements, presenting the gigue as just the right dance form to complement the preludio. Thus, while he may have chosen one of Bach’s most familiar compositions, there were fresh insights in his interpretation, which allowed the attentive listener to appreciate that this reading was far from “business as usual.”

BWV 1006.1 provided just the right context for the first Ysaÿe selection. The fourth sonata in E minor was written for Fritz Kreisler and consists of only three movements. However, the first two of those movements are dance forms that do not appear in BWV 1006.1, an allemande and a sarabande. These are followed by the finale movement. Ysaÿe was not as conscientious as Bach in capturing the nature of the dance behind the label of the dance form. Basically, a dance movement was a rhythmic framework around which Ysaÿe would challenge the violinist with a veritable barrage of technical difficulties. Galvin rose to all of those challenges admirably while still respecting the underlying rhythmic framework behind the dance form.

He then advanced to the more lyrical third sonata in D minor, which consists of a single movement and bears the subtitle “Ballade.” This sonata was written for George Enescu and is just as rich in those technical challenges. Also, while it consists of only a single movement, that movement provides a rich journey through a variety of different sections, each with its own unique rhetorical qualities. Indeed, Ysaÿe may well have chosen his subtitle because the overall architecture of the third sonata shows many indications of “family resemblance” to Frédéric Chopin’s Opus 23 (first) solo piano ballade in G minor.

If Ysaÿe’s third sonata did, indeed, amount to a rethinking of a well-known Chopin piano composition for solo violin, then Galvin’s final selection involved equally impressive rethinking. “Adoration” was originally a short composition for organ by Florence Price. Price was, herself, an organist; but “Adoration” was an intimate piece that eschewed any pull-out-all-the-stops grandeur. Thus, the music lent itself to arrangement in an equally intimate setting for solo violin by Elaine Fine. This was the piece Galvin selected to end his program, and the subdued quietude made for a satisfying conclusion in the wake of all the preceding virtuosity.