A rendezvous with the past

Music afficionados were taken back in time, seamlessly through legendary strains and piano chords, peppered with tid-bits of the evolution of western classical music. For the packed hall at Bangalore School of Music (BSM) recently, music became an escape route, a new space, as German violinist virtuoso, Christian Kim, and pianist Rebecca Thomas brought back timeless classical symphonies.

The concert spanned over three eras — classical, baroque and romantic as Christian did full justice to each by introducing them before his performances. He set the pieces in context, gave them shape and put them in perspective such as highlighting the death of classicism, birth of the baroque era and growth of opera houses.

The concert started with a majestic opening of Mozart’s Sonata in E minor, K. 304, Allegro and Tempo Di minuetto. It had rich, high quality notes in the E minor and evoked melancholy through the minuet. Christian’s analysis as he played each note and the coordination with Rebecca made for an enjoyable performance. The rendition of Bach’s violin solo also turned out strong with seamless transitions in between.

As the concert progressed through the baroque and the romantic era, Christian interacted with the audience. Describing music’s interpretation as ‘subjective’, Christian called upon the audience to understand what the music had done to them.
“Each piece has the ability to tell its own story. In a few baroque pieces, the piano starts with nothing in the beginning, so the genre is created through passion. In the end, the genre is owned by the audience. Music has the ability to speak to everyone despite being anachronistic,” he said.

He culminated the concert with pieces by Bazzini, Elgar and Ysaye. He played a violin solo of Sonata No 3 Ballade, Salut d’amur and finished with the peppy piece, ‘Dance of the Goblins’, that was a great finish to the concert. “It was a lovely evening and the amount of practice and dedication that the musicians have put in paid off today,” said Kevin, one of the visitors.

Kim has been touring Mangalore, Mysore and Bangalore for the past three months and said that he had seen no country like India. “The people and culture here are very diverse. I tried to understand a bit of Indian classical here too which was hard at first. Regarding today’s pieces, I thought I would keep them strong and entertaining. The first two pieces are heavy classical which are required for
repertoire, while towards the end, the pieces become entertaining.”