Hot Chocolate at 10 is an opportunity to see ‘late night classical music in the heart of the Old Town’. Across the course of the festival, one can hear everything from Baroque chamber music to Britten’s choral works, all in a beautifully candlelit and undeniably atmospheric setting. Upon my arrival at Old Saint Paul’s Church, I was delighted to find out that this particular evening’s music was to be Romantic, in genre and in sentiment, and performed on clarinet and piano.
Fuelling my delight was a cup of hot chocolate - more fondue than cocoa - that made the performance all the more sumptuous. Spoons firmly in our mouths, we watched Calum Robertson and Sarah Park take to the stage and strike off into an exquisite and thoughtful programme of concert music.
The pair, going under the name of Grand Duo Concertant, (after the Weber piece that was to close the performance) began proceedings with Schumann’s ‘Fantasiestücke’. This work is the perfect start to the recital. Schumann’s composition is such that the clarinet and piano parts rarely stray too far from each other, with Robertson’s beautiful tone at times blending imperceptibly into Park’s full, fluid playing of a part that never rests on one note when it could whirl over five.
Next came Debussy’s ‘Petite Pièce’, described by Robertson as a progression through the repertoire. It certainly serves as a charming opportunity for clarinet and piano to come into their own. The two instruments continue to communicate through impeccable phrasing that is so important in Romantic music and often so elusive in the works of Debussy.
It is Poulenc’s spirited ‘Sonata’ that shows us Robertson in his element. He maintains just as much control in the raucousness of the ‘Allegro’ as the romance of the ‘Romanza’. His stripes thus earned, he proceeds into another shorter interlude, this time James MacMillan’s ‘From Galloway.’ We are told that the melody of the unaccompanied clarinet (only attained by ‘moving my fingers very, very quickly!’ Robertson explains) is intended to evoke the multi-layered, ethereal sounds of pipes. The effect is truly astounding, not least in the acoustic splendour of the church. We were informed that the piece would only last two and a half minutes, but throughout I was wishing it would last much longer.
It is hard to be sure whether all the performers to grace Old Saint Paul’s throughout the Fringe will execute their performance with such aplomb. As the pair flew through their virtuosic eponymous work, I was reminded of my old music teacher’s assertion that the mark of a good performance is whether you want to hear it again. Even though I had long since run out of chocolate, I was certain that I did.
