" Martin Panteleev impresses with his performance in Betenbrunn Church. He masters demanding pieces with ease.
Heiligenberg – Anyone who couldn't make it to the Betenbrunn church because of the snow missed a musical highlight. What violinist Martin Panteleev offered in a performance lasting just over an hour was violin artistry from a different kind of Christmas star. The invitation was "a musical journey through time," which admittedly favored the ICE train speed and initially only stopped at a few baroque main stations named Bach and Vivaldi. In his Partita No. 2 in D minor, Bach unfurls a model catalog of phrasing and fingering techniques, from which Panteleev introduced the introductory Allemanda and the famous Ciaconna, a set of variations whose breathtaking drama and rhythmic diversity have rarely been equaled to this day, and which Panteleev enjoyed almost effortlessly despite its ludicrous difficulty.
Only a few years younger is Vivaldi's "The Seasons," a programmatic visual spectacle arguably the Venetian's most popular work. After overcoming the initial shock of seeing the concertante violin virtually naked, without the obligatory string mantle of the original score, the listener was happy to follow Panteleev's adaptation for solo violin, which also convincingly captured the tutti passages through acrobatic multi-string use.
Panteleev introduced the pieces in his program with short, exemplary introductions. The harmonic melting of Jules Massenet's catchy "Méditation" came just in time for him to "recover" from the mountains of Baroque polyphony. The concert concluded with an original composition that didn't seek to conceal its affinity with Baroque diction or the violinist's Bulgarian folk music heritage. The encore was a treat from Bach's Partita No. 3. The Music and Culture Association is to be congratulated for succeeding in luring an internationally renowned artist like Martin Panteleev to snowy Betenbrunn.
BY HARTMUT FERENSCHILD, SÜDKURIER NO. 281 | UE TUESDAY, 5 DECEMBER 2023
