When violinist Laura Scalzo and pianist Viktor Valkov hit the downbeat on today’s program, it was sheer poetry. The pair opened with a piece by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor where violinist Laura Scalzo noted “both voices are always so important.”
The “Ballade” has a lovely cantabile melody, but you could just take that away, and it would still be a lovely piano piece.
Written in 1907, the piece is one of four that Scalzo and Valkov will perform in person on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church. The program is the “Camerata Recital,” an opportunity for Scalzo and Valkov, both members of the chamber group Camerata San Antonio, to “have a little bit more of that dialogue between just the two of us,” said Scalzo.
The Sunday program also includes Béla Bartók’s folk-infused “Rhapsody No. 1,” a sonata by Sergei Prokofiev, and Beethoven’s Sonata in C minor for violin and piano, which Scalzo said is full of “deep emotion” just like Beethoven’s best work.
Concert details:
The Camerata Recital
Scalzo/Valkov
Feb. 16, 2:00 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church
Tickets: https://cameratasa.org/
Use the audio player at the top of this page to hear Laura Scalzo and Viktor Valkov play "Ballade" by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and the opening movement of Beethoven's Sonata in C minor.
