Legato Arts presents Lin/Castro-Balbi Duo-20th Anniversary Celebration “From the Old World”
Jesús Castro-Balbi, cello; Gloria Lin, piano
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
March 6, 2016
A large and appreciative audience came to hear an excellent cello/piano duo recital on a chilly late winter Sunday. Gloria Lin, pianist, and Jesús Castro-Balbi, cellist, are married, and each of them teaches at Texas Christian University. Whether or not being spouses assisted in the perfection of their ensemble, it certainly didn’t detract from it. They have been playing together for twenty years now. The husband graciously gives primacy to his wife in having the first name of the duo.
This was a sort of “reverse” recital, with the second part longer than the first part. In fact the only work prior to intermission, though not “small,” was Chopin’s Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65. To my ears, the only miscalculation was the use of the short stick on the piano. I know cellists fear balance issues, but the glorious piano writing had a muffled quality, never truly achieving fortissimo climaxes when needed, or even (gasp!) over-balancing the cello. Yes, in this piece by an avowedly awkward writer of chamber music, but who was the greatest pianist of his time, sometimes the piano actually needs to predominate. Both players spun out the dense late-Chopin textures with purpose and, usually, elegance. Mr. Castro-Balbi’s phrasing was very personal and convincing; he possesses a beautiful vibrato and legato, with ample use of slides. In fact, I wished he had used the legato more, as there were some odd moments of detached playing, where a longer singing line would have suited better. The third movement: Largo, was a gorgeous, meditative gem in their hands.
After intermission, it seems a different, looser, more dynamic duo took the stage. The pair played Martinů’s Cello Sonata No. 2, H. 286. Here, Ms. Lin provided crisp, clear, exciting, and meticulous articulation in the difficult first movement, and throughout. This performance made a somewhat difficult work easily graspable to the many listeners who I’m sure had never heard it before. They achieved tragic grandeur in the slow movement.
Joaquín Nin’s Seguida Española is not often heard, but it should be. It’s charms are based on folk songs and dances, and although some of it seemed derivative of de Falla’s Siete canciones populares españolas, one regretted the brevity not only of each movement, but of the whole. Beautifully done.
The duo concluded with Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s difficult riot of a romp based on the famous aria from Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia: “Largo al factotum.” Although this aria even wound up in a Looney Tunes episode, there was nothing cartoonish about the rendition here. In fact, not only was the technique and ensemble perfect, but the players exhibited an all-too-rare quality in many of today’s music makers: genuine wit.
They favored the enthusiastic audience with an encore from the aforementioned de Falla folk song set: the poignant “Nana,” which had everything, haunting in its spontaneous phrasing by Mr. Castro-Balbi. Here’s to twenty more years at least!
