Patrick Galvin & Jennifer Hou: Dear Camilla
Navona Records

Like many a professional musician, violinist Patrick Galvin benefited from the transformative role an experienced mentor played in his development. With Dear Camilla, he expresses his gratitude to his former teacher, violinist Camilla Wicks, by grounding the recording in a series of letters he wrote to her that acknowledges her lasting impact on his life. In an inspired move, Galvin has selected a musical work that accords with a particular letter to thereby add an extra dimension to the project. Pieces by Sibelius, Chopin, Sarasate, Chausson, Pärt, and Beach are performed in heartfelt tribute to Wicks; that Galvin did so using her own violin, a 1959 instrument by Arthur Edward Smith, makes the album all the more emotionally resonant.

Whereas the San Francisco-based Galvin recorded his first album Violin Alone solo, he partners with pianist Jennifer Hou on the new one. She acquired her Master's in Piano Performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music but is based in Sydney and Canberra; she also, interestingly enough, earned a Bachelor of Music (Honours) at UNSW but also a law degree, and is a solicitor in New South Wales. The set-list presented by the two, which was first performed in 2022 and was recorded in July 2024 at Skywalker Sound, begins with Sibelius's Souvenir, Op. 79. In one letter, Galvin recalls the lessons he enjoyed with Wicks at her apartment and the memory of the violin that was in her hands then but in his today, and consequently each time he opens his violin case he's transported back to that time and picks up the instrument he's reminded of her. As souvenir translates into English as “memory” or “remembrance,” the piece is a fitting choice given how much the project's rooted in fond recollections by her protégé. The yearning, nostalgic tone of the setting aligns seamlessly with the character of the project, and better yet the material affords Galvin and Hou a wonderful vehicle for demonstrating their artistry.

As time passed and their lessons continued, Wicks didn't play much, in part because of crippling pain caused by arthritis. Even so, Galvin recalls in his letter, “You winced when you played, yet the sound was shockingly beautiful and expressive. Time was getting the better of you, but you pushed back with every note.” Like her, Chopin endured pain and illness during his life before dying at just thirty-nine. From 1831, his Nocturne, Op 9 No. 2 is an oft-played piece but one no less appealing for being familiar. Its aching, supplicating tone is conveyed with intense feeling by Galvin, who, as he was recording, might have been imagining the piece as played by his teacher. Offsetting its bittersweet nostalgia is the comparatively lighter yet no less bewitching Romanza Andaluza, Op. 22 No 1 by Pablo de Sarasate. Rousing dance rhythms, folk melodies, and Galvin's expertly executed double stops add to the impact of the performance.

Eventually, Wicks retired from teaching but remained in contact with Galvin by phone, and during one such exchange she told him he should learn Poème, Op. 25 by the French composer Ernest Chausson. At fifteen minutes, it's the longest of the album's six pieces and affords Hou and Galvin a tremendous showcase for their talents. Unfolding with careful deliberation, it includes unaccompanied passages delivered with conviction, sensitivity, and passion by both players. It's not easy sustaining a particular mood and high level of performance for a quarter-hour, but the two do so unfailingly in this instance.

With Wicks now a memory, Galvin reflects on their time together and ruminates on time's passing. To explore the phenomenon, he performs Pärt's Fratres, an apt choice for the way it exemplifies both stasis, in it repeating structure, and development, in the variations that are applied to that repeating cycle. The selection is a good one in the way it contrast with the Chopin and Chausson pieces, even if at this stage Fratres has seen more than its share of recordings. That said, there's no denying the quality of the interpretation by Galvin and Hou, who render the haunting material with all the requisite delicacy and passion it demands. The album ends with Amy Beach's Romance, Op. 23, one of her loveliest and most popular works. Wistful and nostalgic in the extreme, the sweetly singing setting is given an exquisite reading by the duo to conclude the release on an undeniably, yes, romantic note.

September 2025