Music review : Lin and Schub Prove to Be Equal Partners at the Barclay

Seriousness of purpose and musical penetration marked the collaboration of violinist Cho-Liang Lin and pianist Andre-Michel Schub, Saturday night at Irvine Barclay Theatre, from their choice of program to the way they played it, right through to the encores that followed.

They also seem, musically, to know each other very well. Together since 1980, the duo offered strongly integrated performances of ostensible violin sonatas that all but erased the distinction between soloist and accompanist.

Indeed, like a married couple stealing each other’s punch lines, Lin and Schub often completed each other’s musical thoughts without a break in stride. This was especially pronounced in their reading of Beethoven’s Sonata, Opus 30, No. 1, which unwound conversationally and easily, and with all its warmth, detail and joy intact.

In Prokofiev’s brooding and muscular Sonata, Opus 80, they combined for a performance symphonic in grandeur and color, and unflagging in intensity.

At the same time, elegance was always nearby. Lin seems not to know the meaning of overstatement, and his technique and tone never show signs of effort or strain. This let him capture the fluttery, fleeting world of Debussy’s G-minor Sonata with the requisite force and lightness while not calling attention to his own prowess.

*

In Ravel’s Sonata, the players’ complete equality found a perfect match in the composer’s stratified dialogue, yet they never failed to remember the big picture and built compelling dramatic arches.

Even the encores, Elgar’s “Salut d’amour” and Milhaud/Heifetz “Brasileira,” normally bonbons, sounded more serious than usual, in carefully etched, technically polished accounts.