Concert Review
Cristian de Sá (violin) and John Lenehan (piano) – 13th October 2025
The Music Club recital by Cristian de Sá (violin) and John Lenehan (piano) drew a large audience to Penrith Methodist Church; they were to be rewarded with an imaginative programme performed with intense commitment and musical flare. Young violinistic talent and mature pianistic experience proved a winning combination.
An imaginative programme
Leclair’s Sonata in D from 1743 was given a bravura performance – an expansive first movement, lively articulation in the second, then a calmly-judged Sarabanda before the energised Tambourin brought immaculately managed ensemble and dexterity from both players.
The rest of the programme moved on to the late nineteenth/early twentieth century, starting with Brahms. His Sonata Movement in C minor (Scherzo), written for Joseph Joachim, received an appropriately muscular performance: starting with spirited cross rhythms but melting into the lyrical interludes. In 1886 Brahms spent his Summer holiday in Switzerland writing his Second Violin Sonata in A. Its amiable themes and conversational style were enjoyed to the full by two good companions – a performance of sonorous satisfaction.
The recital’s second half visited France during times of unusual creativity. Saint-Saēns arranged his Danse Macabre for violin and piano – a great idea for violinists and Cristian Da Sá dispatched this familiar piece with fine gusto. Two very different arrangements of Debussy orchestral and piano pieces followed – Prèlude à l’Après-midi d’un faune and Minstrels, the first languid and mildly indecent, the second quirkily humorous; both characterised with imaginative insight.
Fauré’s Berceuse was an oasis between two original pieces by a student of his – Ravel. At the Paris Conservatoire Ravel wrote his one-movement Sonata Posthume, never published until 1976. Its experimental style hints at his later music, this positive performance made a persuasive case for it. Finally a more familiar work, Tzigane, played with remarkable panache and virtuosity was greeted with an ovation. A well chosen encore , Debussy’s La Fille aux cheveux de lin, a beguiling bonus.
John Upson