After a summer where the sun largely forgot to shine, there was finally a moment of warmth and brightness in the Garioch – the beginning of a new Inverurie Music concert season! And the season couldn’t have started any better than with this wonderful concert from two fantastic young talents, presenting a challenging but rewarding programme that took the audience from early twentieth-century France to Stalinist Russia and back (and back again), with a slight detour to Romantic era Germany for full effect. It was a programme of twists and turns, of pain and pleasure but ultimately of consummate musicianship and interpretation.

The late sonatas of Debussy are both a blessing and a curse: the world is so lucky to have the three he wrote in his final years with their austere language and questioning tone, but the composer’s untimely death robbed us of the three he had planned to finish the set (especially the proposed fourth sonata for oboe, horn and harpsichord which could have presented a very different side to Debussy) and the nagging question of what might have been. However, we should be thankful for what we have, and the short but explosive Sonata for Cello and Piano is amongst the finest in the repertoire and it gave Mackay and Shang plenty of opportunities to show their technique and craft in a thrilling beginning to the concert. This was followed by one of the two large-scale sonatas that underpinned the recital, Prokofiev’s 1949 tour de force, the Cello Sonata in C Major. Despite exhibiting the exuberance and fireworks that often characterises the composer’s music, there is something more restrained and sincere about this sonata, Prokofiev straying into more introspective and direct music for large swathes of the music. This gave the whole gamut of emotion and expression for the duo to work with, and the interaction between the musicians was both attentive and electric. The piece also gave many opportunities for Mackay to demonstrate the rhapsodic lower range of the instrument, full of russet tones and melancholy colours. The first half of the recital finished with a return to Debussy’s Paris, but now ringing to the sounds of one of the most important musical characters and pedagogues of the period, Nadia Boulanger. Her Three Pieces for Cello and Piano were a fine addition to the programme, especially the characterful final piece, full of rhythm and verve.

The second half resumed with Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, originally for clarinet and piano, but just as regularly found in this guise for cello. The more secure musical language and direction of these slight, but evocative pieces gave plenty of occasions for Mackay to present the singing qualities of his instrument, especially in the opening piece with its wistful, nostalgic qualities evident from the very beginning. The final work was the second of the two substantial sonatas in the programme, Shostakovich’s powerful Cello Sonata in D Minor from 1934. A little like Prokofiev’s 1949 sonata, there is something uncharacteristic about this work – still noticeably Shostakovich from the first to the final note but lacking the savage irony and dark expressivity that many expect from the composer. It is no surprise to uncover that Shostakovich was searching for ‘a simple, clear and expressive language’ in his work of this period, and this is present throughout, no more so than in the folk-like second movement that gives the sonata much of its vitality and character. Both players were obviously in their element in this capricious music and the finale was a thrilling end to a wonderful concert.

So, the 2024-25 season begins in style and promises to be one to remember. By the end of the April, there will be brass fanfares, string elegies, wind quintets and even more French music from the same salons and boulevards as Debussy and Boulanger – plenty to look forward to.

PAC (22 September 2024)