Full Circle - a Violin Recital by Johanna Roos and Roelof Temmingh

On Sunday, November 3rd, at 3 PM we welcome to Northwards House the celebrated musicians Johanna Roos (violin) and Roelof Temmingh (piano). They will be presenting a recital entitled Full Circle, featuring works by Beethoven, Poulenc, Temmingh (snr), and Schubert.

Johanna Roos is an inspirational violinist, chamber musician and influential teacher. New to the Western Cape, she enjoys a private teaching studio in Stellenbosch and collaborates with local artists, coaching at the Franschhoek Chamber Music Workshop, performing at the Franschhoek Chamber Music Festival, for the Cape Chamber Collective, and Val de Vie Classics. Johanna is a member of the recently formed Jakaranda Trio, along with Albie van Schalkwyk and Jessica Bailey.

Actively engaging in chamber music, South African pianist Roelof Temmingh has performed at the Royal Albert Hall’s Classical Coffee Morning Series, the Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, and as part of the Delphine Trio has recorded at Abbe y Road Studios, as well as recording their debut album with the Dutch label TRPTK, and they reached the final round of the ROSL Music Competition. Performances include recitals in South Africa, UK, US, France, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Slovenia.

Having experienced early signs of deafness since the mid 1790’s, Ludwig van Beethoven’s doctor suggested that he move to Heiligenstadt in 1802, believing its mineral baths to be a possible treatment and cure. The composer experienced great optimism and creativity at this prospect, composing as part of a set, the Sonata in A for Piano and Violin, Op. 30 No. 1. This work, with is joyful theme and variations, is characterised by a serenity that sets it apart from the later Kreutzer Sonata, a work which lively tarantella finale is a reworking of this earlier work’s initial third movement.

Francis Poulenc composed his Sonata for Violin and Piano (1942-3) in memory of the slain Spanish poet Federico García Lorca, as a means of expressing his opposition to the war that was raging throughout Europe. In contrast to his large output of chamber music for woodwinds, the composer admitted to feeling ill at ease in writing for the solo violin. Both outer movements of the Sonata are characterised by abruptly contrasting emotions of melancholy and boisterousness, whilst the central Intermezzo contains moments of great beauty. Poulenc described this movement as “a sort of vaguely Spanish Andante-cantilena”.

South African composer Roelof Temmingh (snr.) believed that his Sonata for Violin and Piano (1993) - as is the case with his other compositions - should speak for itself, purely reliant on what the audience would experience during a live performance of the work. As such, he did not see it necessary to provide a detailed analysis of the score. Although it is composed in three separate movements, Temmingh allows the performers the option of playing it as one continuous work.

Composed during his last year, Franz Schubert’s Fantasie in C for Violin and Piano, D.934 (1827) has remained a masterpiece of the violin repertoire ever since, containing remarkable emotional depth and maturity in its pages. Although the work is played as a continuous whole, it approximates the typical four-movement sonata structure with a set of elaborate and challenging variations forming the emotional core of the work - Schubert incorporates his iconic lied, Sei mir gegrüsst, as the theme for the variations.

Join us at Northwards House, Parktown on Sunday, November 3rd, at 3 PM for an afternoon in the company of the world’s most beautiful violin music.

Tickets, as always, are available at Quicket.

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