Gutsy violinist lays everything bare in ripper recital.

Melbourne Recital Centre
February 15, 2015

Christian Tetzlaff is becoming something of a Melbourne Recital Centre regular. After appearing as soloist with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra last year, the German violin virtuoso was back on Sunday evening as part of the centre’s Great Performers series, in a program celebrating the raw potential of the violin alone. Making the most of his time in Australia, Tetzlaff arrived in Victoria just days after wowing audiences in Sydney with his blisteringly high-octane performances of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the SSO. For this more intimate performance three solo sonatas were on offer; the outer two by Eugène Ysaÿe and Béla Bartók owing much of their language and form to the composer of the central work, Johann Sebastian Bach.

Unleashing the full force of his instrument from the get-go, Tetzlaff began the Ysaÿe Solo Sonata in G minor, Op.27, No.1 with a deliberate, uncompromising blow from his bow arm that sent sound erupting through the hall. Each stroke sank purposefully into the strings, drawing out thick, meaty chords that formed into a tortured counterpoint. These aggressive outbursts were balanced by gossamer-thin playing right at the...