Chloë Hanslip and Danny Driver at the King’s Hall, November 20, 2024

VIOLINIST, Chloë Hanslip, returned to the King’s Hall last Wednesday with her regular duo partner, the pianist, Danny Driver for a recital which combined music from the German and French traditions. The performance began with the third of Bach’s six sonatas for violin and keyboard in which the two instruments are definitely in partnership, throwing thematic material from one to the other in immaculate counterpoint. Chloë Hanslip played with great delicacy and rightly with very little vibrato but, although Driver’s piano was by no means over-assertive there were some problems of balance between the two instruments.

That imbalance is stressed in Beethoven’s description of his op 30 sonatas as for ‘pianoforte with the accompaniment of violin’. Although less piano dominated than some earlier sonatas the piano definitely leads off with most of the musical ideas in the second of the set which Hanslip and Driver played next. You felt that this was a partnership of some maturity in which neither player needed to assert themselves. Chloë’s tone was naturally richer, particularly affecting in the Adagio cantabile of the second movement and with all the agility necessary for the tumultuous first and final movements – a memorable performance.

The second half commenced with Lili Boulanger’s etherial Nocturne with its bell-like accompaniment, played magically here, and followed by the busier, more impressionistic D’un matin de printemps. These led us into the centrepiece of the evening, a barnstorming unfolding of César Franck’s violin sonata. It was instantly clear that both performers are devoted to this piece, one of the true masterpieces of the violin/piano repertoire. Chloë Hanslip showed electrifying virtuosity in the difficult passagework of the second and fourth movements and warmth of tone in the more lyrical passages. Danny Driver matched her perfectly bringing out all the rich sonorities of Franck’s highly romantic piano writing. This justifiably resulted in tremendous applause which was rewarded with a complete contrast as an encore – the Blues movement from Ravel’s G major sonata – all twentieth century drive and sophistication – what a duo!