Robert Cohen and Dina Duisen following their performance for nadsa concerts with sponsors Don and Betty Frampton
nadsa Concert Review – Robert Cohen and Dina Duisen
📍 The Courtenay Centre, Newton Abbot
🎻 Robert Cohen – cello
🎹 Dina Duisen – piano
🎯 Sponsored by Don and Betty Frampton
Programme
Ludwig van Beethoven – Cello Sonata No. 3
Gabriel Fauré – Après un Rêve
Gabriel Fauré – Élégie
Gabriel Fauré – Papillon
Interval
Johannes Brahms – Cello Sonata No. 2
Encore:
Pablo Casals – Song of the Birds
Review
If you were not at the Courtenay Centre, Newton Abbot, on Sunday 27 September, you missed a real treat. Perhaps the idea of music played on cello and piano does not appear to be very exciting. These players may have changed your mind!
Dina Duisen, the pianist, was born into a musical family in Kazakhstan. As a thirteen-year-old, she gave her first performance with a symphony orchestra. She continued her studies at the Kazakh National Academy of Music before moving to the United States to further her studies at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, graduating in 2008. She moved to Britain, studying for the new Master of Arts Degree in Performance at the Royal Academy of Music and graduating with distinction in 2011.
Dina has performed in many venues in Europe and America. She has started an annual mini-festival of chamber music, “Dina and Friends”, and is now setting up the Duisen Music School in London. Other musicians she regularly works with include Nicola Benedetti, Robert Cohen and Martin James Bartlett. Dina has recently released her debut album, “Mazurkas from Chopin to Adès”.
Robert Cohen is a distinguished solo cellist, cello teacher and conductor. He first came to prominence playing the Elgar Cello Concerto when he was nineteen. The recording made at the time was awarded a silver disc. He has enjoyed an international career, working with Claudio Abbado, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Roger Norrington, Riccardo Muti and other outstanding musicians.
His many recordings include both romantic and modern music. A number of works have been dedicated to him, including the first and second cello concertos by Sally Beamish. Chamber music has also played an important part in his career; he is the cellist of the Fine Arts Quartet.
These musicians are ideally suited to the music we heard. Beethoven’s Third Cello Sonata opened the concert. This innovative work provides a piece where both instrumentalists have been given equal roles. In Beethoven’s two earlier cello sonatas, the piano only plays a role as accompanist to the cello. This fascinating music, full of contrasts, has three movements. Unusually, there is no slow movement; instead, Beethoven provides a slow introduction to the last movement. The performance held the attention with its insightful interpretation and exciting moments.
Three of Gabriel Fauré’s shorter pieces completed the first half. An important French composer, Fauré’s life spanned the 19th and 20th centuries, an important time of change in the arts. His influence is evident in the music of many French composers, including Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc and Lili Boulanger.
Après un Rêve (After a Dream) is an arrangement of a song from 1878 that is particularly loved, expressing intense passion and longing. Élégie (Elegy) was originally intended as the slow movement of a cello sonata: an expression of intolerable grief. Papillon (Butterfly) is reminiscent in part of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee, with contrasting slower sections.
Following the concert interval, the second of Brahms’ cello sonatas was presented with assured virtuosity. As always, Brahms produced a masterpiece in the medium in which he was working. Written 20 years after the first cello sonata, the four movements were played here with what only comes with years of experience and understanding of this composer.
We were treated to an encore: Pablo Casals’ Song of the Birds. This is music so appropriate to our troubled times; it signifies a journey coming to a beautiful and peaceful end.
This performance, promoted by nadsa Concerts, was sponsored by members Don and Betty Frampton. It was a completely satisfying event for all who heard it.
nadsa concert, Sunday 27th September at The Courtenay Centre, Newton Abbot.
SS 2026
