Two of the leading classical musicians on the international circuit about to play in Dublin prove in real life to be a study in contrasts
THE TITLE is almost laughably po-faced - Recital - but the CD cover tells a different story. Two skinny girls, one lounging around in jeans, the other doing a bit of Mona Lisa with her hand over her face. It's more "struggling singer-songwriter" than "classical superstar", until you look at the names on the back. Viktoria Mullova, violin and Katia Labèque, piano. There are many who would say that Mullova is the best violinist in the world at the moment, while Labèque is a top name on the international circuit as half of the Labèque sisters, one of the most glamorous and accomplished piano duos in the business.
As the cover of Recital suggests, however, these are musicians who do their own thing. Labèque has been playing jazz with John McLaughlin and Miles Davis for years, and has formed her own record company so that she can explore all kinds of music, including avant-garde rock; Mullova, meanwhile, famously baulked at playing one of the greatest warhorses of the violin repertoire, the Tchaikovsky concerto, as she'd rather spend her time studying more interesting contemporary material, or playing Bach with a baroque bow.
Not skinny girls, then, but strong women. The spontaneity and sheer joy of their music-making is evident from the first notes of Stravinsky's delicious Suite Italienne through Schubert's dreamy Fantasie D934 to Ravel's bluesy violin sonata - plus a tiny gem by Clara Schumann, her Romance from 1853. Which makes three strong women altogether - and Irish audiences can hear this recital live at the National Concert Hall in Dublin tomorrow.
In real life, Mullova and Labèque are a study in contrasts. When I phone the latter at her home in Italy at the time appointed for an interview, there's no reply. After a flurry of e-mails, it's rescheduled for later that evening. This time Labèque picks up right away, launching into a very Gallic, and disarmingly honest, apology. "I'm so sorry about this morning," she says. "I completely forgot. I'm looking for a space that we can transform into a recording studio, and at the very last moment they told me, 'We found a place you can look at', and I was so excited I just went right away."
We've barely settled into conversation when another phone rings, and she excuses herself to answer it, but there is, apparently, nobody on the line. "Oof," she declares, picking up where she left off. "Just 10 seconds ago the door was ringing, and it was a priest coming to have benediction over the house . . . I thought it was a friend, so I opened the door. I was, like, not even really properly dressed - and I found a priest all dressed in white with the thing-ummy, you know, to give the benediction, and I said 'What?' I thought it was a joke. And then I realised 'No, they do that here in Rome'." Did she get it sorted? She laughs. "Yes. The house is blessed. Everything is fine."
As far as the record company she runs with her sister Marielle is concerned, things would appear to be more than fine. Their current disc, a programme of Schubert and Mozart, is the Editor's Choice in Gramophone magazine, the latest in a series of rave reviews. KML Recordings is divided into two parts: KML Classics and Sonic Invaders. The first, Labèque explains, is for recording with her sister: the second features young groups and a wide range of experimental music.
"After so many years with Phillips, EMI, Sony - all the big record companies - we really wanted to be free to create our own repertory," she says. "The next record is going to be flamenco with a wonderful young Spanish singer. I cannot ask any record company to follow such disparate repertory." Their first release, last year, was an all-Ravel programme which included a version of Bolero with added Basque percussion. Then came Stravinsky and Debussy with a DVD by the video artist Tal Rosner. "And in two months we have this flamenco record, which we're very proud of," says Labèque. "We created a completely new repertory based on ancient Spanish dance, which is not only pure flamenco - not at all - it's really, you know, the music which inspired Manuel de Falla and Albeniz." And she's off on a riff about the delights of working with young Spanish musicians.
On the phone from her south London home, meanwhile, Mullova sounds calm and collected - partly because she's winding down towards a four-month sabbatical. "I'm looking forward to that," she says. "It will start in April - but between now and then I have to learn lots of repertoire which I'll be doing in September." She's also doing a new Bach recording and will also, for the first time, play Schubert sonatas with gut strings and fortepiano accompaniment.
Although she plays a modern violin, Mullova's relationship with early instruments and period style is a passionate one. With the help of baroque bassoonist Marco Postinghel, she had to unpick her technique and rework it ahead of her first recording of Bach sonatas and partitas. Her performances of Bach have, since 1994, notched up rave reviews and a cult following. "To take a different perspective is very refreshing," she says. "It's not stale, you know? Sometimes I was thinking, in the past, when I played certain repertoire again and again, years are passing by . . . and you can't just play the same way forever."
Having studied Bach in the standard way, Mullova found the early-music approach to be a revelation. "I realised that it's actually much easier to play this way than when I used to struggle with a modern bow," she says. "With gut strings and baroque bow it puts the music in the right place. It felt completely different, and I really started to enjoy playing Bach." Enjoyment is certainly the word for Mullova and Labèque on stage together: and in addition to the material from the CD, they'll also offer Bartók's Hungarian Folk Tunes. "I always like to play Schubert and Bartók in the same programme," says Mullova. "Somehow it works. I don't know why." And Clara Schumann? Will they by any chance play her piece as an encore in Dublin? "Oui," says Labèque. So that's a promise.
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Viktoria Mullova and Katia Labèque play at the National Concert Hall tomorrow. The website for KML records is www.kmlrecordings.com
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Aidan Dunne's Visual Art column returns next week
