Concert review: Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello) Isata Kanneh-Mason (piano)

Probably every musician has experienced travel nightmares, and unfortunately cellists – due to the size of their instruments – seem particularly prone to incidents, especially in flight. Apparently, that was the case with Sheku Kanneh-Mason and his pianist sister Isata Kanneh-Mason, who were forced to cancel their appearance in Toronto, after Air Canada refused to let him board with his instrument.

Thankfully, they made it to Philadelphia, and we would never have been aware of anything amiss, given the abundance on offer. Mendelssohn’s Cello Sonata made a sparkling introduction for the real star of the first half, Fauré’s First Cello Sonata. Sheku and Isata are gripping storytellers, and they turned the work into something alternately prayerful and demonic. Those instincts reached an apex at the end of the evening, with Poulenc’s powerful Cello Sonata.

In between came Tor Mordôn (‘Sea mount of light’), written in 2023 by violinist and composer Natalie Klouda. In it, a sea of bowed and pizzicato glissandos flooded the first section, followed by a second with malevolent rhythms that ultimately exploded in a burst of down bows.

Two encores followed: Rachmaninoff’s The Muse, and Sheku’s stunning arrangement of ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’, a showpiece for him and Isata. Two days later, the duo gave the same programme at Carnegie Hall, with a capacity just shy of 3,000 seats. Lucky Philadelphians heard them in the intimate Perelman Theater, with roughly one-fifth the capacity.

BRUCE HODGES