A beautiful partnership forming

ELLIST Laura van der Heijden – 20 next month – won the BBC Young Musician competition in 2012.

Currently a student at St John’s College, Cambridge, she is gradually developing her career with a number of recitals so far plus concerto appearances with the Philharmonia, English Chamber Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and – earlier this month – the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

Her partnership with pianist Tom Poster is maturing beautifully, on the evidence of their recital for Huddersfield Music Society.

Tom won the keyboard prize in the 2000 BBC Young Musician competition and is now wellestablished both as a performer and a composer.

Together they can play anything: switching from 19th century romance to impressionism to 20th century and contemporary at the stroke of a bow or the touch of a piano key.

Van der Heijden is expressive Event: Venue: By: Rating: but controlled and by her restraint finds extra emotion and intensity.

She has sustained sweet, dark tone and is a mistress of colour – knowing exactly when to pump up or ease down vibrato.

Everything she plays is unforced, clear and beautiful.

Their programme was refreshing and avoided big beasts of the cello/piano repertoire.

Debussy’s D minor Cello Sonata begins and ends in D minor but is modal and ephemeral in its tonality.

After a prologue movement a serenade creates a fantasy of cello glissandi, bowing over the fingerboard and delicate flute-like sounds.

The finale is denser for both instruments.

It is a fascinating and truly original work – a major achievement – as was the performance.

Schumann’s Three Romances Op. 94 are lyrical and disturbed pieces and Fauré’s Cello Sonata No. 2, here given its first Huddersfield performance, is in an unfamiliar style – very different to the Fauré of the Requiem – and has an almost constant stream of cello melody over its three movements.

In both works van der Heijden reminded me of the young Jacqueline Du Pré.

BBC4 had broadcast a clip of the teenaged Du Pré the previous night. There were similarities, but van der Heijden was better.

The contemporary work ‘L’, written for Yo Yo Ma’s 50th birthday in 2005, has composer Graham Fitkin’s characteristic frenetic quality with still interludes.

Fitkin wrote “’L’ is for line, for lust, for life and for longing.

“It is also Latin for 50”.