Classical Music Daily, Mike Wheeler

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In Poulenc’s Clarinet Sonata, they had the measure of the first movement’s typical Poulenc mix of mischievous scampering and melancholy calm. They hinted at the sarabande-like dance rhythms underlying the second movement, and gave just enough weight to the more lyrical phrases that punctuate the finale’s high jinks.

“Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie was quietly expectant to begin with. Later, as Bliss and Horton seamlessly exchanged short phrases, we heard suggestions of the pagan world Debussy evoked in Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un Faune, and the final moments had all the playfulness Debussy asks for.”

A deeply sensitive reading of Fauré’s well-loved song Après un Rêve (After a Dream), in Bliss’s own transcription, was followed by Messager’s Solo de Concours – written, like the Debussy, for the Paris Conservatoire as a student test-piece. From their jaunty opening, Bliss and Horton led us through the central episodes, pensive and extravagant by turns, and into the final section’s runaway flamboyance.

The second half began with more transcriptions by Bliss – this time, of music by Robert Schumann. In ‘Stille Thränen’ (Silent Tears), from the so-called Kerner-Lieder, Op 35, Bliss played with a singer’s phrasing, and Horton allowed just enough of a ruffled surface. ‘Du Bist wie eine Blume’ (You are like a flower), from the song cycle Myrthen, Op 25, showed a similar level of sensitivity. The group ended with ‘Abendlied’ (Evening Song), from Schumann’s set of piano duet pieces ‘for small and large children’, Op 85. Particularly notable was the way Bliss and Horton held our attention through the quietest moments.

Finally came Brahms’ Sonata in F minor, Op 120 No 1. The opening movement was firm and purposeful, but also taking in wistful, hushed moments, and the withdrawn ending was finely judged. After the slow, sad dance of the second movement, the third movement waltz lightened the mood. Bliss and Horton even found some Ländler-like earthiness amid the Brahmsian reserve.

“They produced plenty of bubbling energy to propel the finale, gliding through the smoother episodes, and making the sudden brief recess towards the end just enough of a breath-catching moment.”

…an absorbing recital.