Recital at the Slovak Embassy

I do not go to many classical music concerts these days (opera excepted) but I was not going to miss the opportunity for an intimate recital at the Slovak Embassy.

The event was arranged by the Anglo-Czechoslovak Trust who bring Czech/Slovak musicians to the UK for concerts and competitions. It featured a former discovery of theirs Milan Pala on violin accompanied by Ladislav Fanzowitz.

I was organised enough to get a seat in the front row on the left-hand side to get a good view of the pianist's hands.

The programme was full and diverse featuring violin sonatas by Elgar, Poulenc, Suchon and Brahams; none of which I knew.

The music was fairly mainstream in style with most of the pieces following the quick-slow-quick rule for the movements. Milan and Ladislav followed this rule too and were very animated during the allegro sections.

Being violin sonatas the violin was very much the star, as expected, but I preferred the balance of the Poulenc piece that let the piano do its own thing at times rather than just decorate the violin sounds.

All the pieces were pretty and I enjoyed them a lot despite this not being the sort of music that I usually listen to. I enjoyed them the more for being close to the performance and sharing it with many people that I know in the Czech/Slovak community.The wine afterwards was nice too.