Barbican Hall, London
In the first of two concerts of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, Kavakos beguiled and impressed, but it was a performance in which the music came first
Change the order in which you play JS Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin and you change the story they’re telling. Splitting these six works into two intense concerts on consecutive nights, Leonidas Kavakos was to have started with the Partita No 3; instead, he swapped it for the A minor Sonata No 2, a more low-key opening which meant that when the E major explosion that begins the Partita No 3 did arrive, it felt like the sun coming out. After the interval, the C major Sonata No 3 reinforced the major-key positivity.
Alone in the spotlight in the centre of the Barbican Hall’s stage, Kavakos played with a buoyancy of bow and an awareness of the impact of small changes in timbre that nodded respectfully to the historically informed side of performance practice, yet with a modern warmth and weight of sound. His speeds tended to be brisk. Early on, the faster movements betrayed a hint of impatience, with phrases losing a little of their shape in the rush. Once past the shimmering, shifting harmonies of the Preludio of the E major Partita he found a slightly steadier groove, although the music still danced irresistibly.
