This evening's Gala Rectital for the second week of the summer school, saw 5 members of the faculty display their considerable talent to a large and anticipatory crowd of piano enthusiasts.
The first pianist to take the stage was Chinese /American / Canadian, Alton Chan. He chose to play a selection of short piano pieces by Russian composer Rheinhold Gliere. Chan tried to engratiate himself with the audience with some jokes and repartee, as well as promoting his own CD. Perhaps not the correct platform for him to do this. He spoke about being the only pianist to have recorded the entire piano oeuvre of Gliere, including a little known piece for the left hand, which he played. He also played a few pieces from a book of short pieces for children. I cannot be certain, but he did seem to be sightreading some of these, and both the pieces and his playing of them sounded very simplistic.
The second pianist to take the stage was Simon Callaghan, who lifted the mood and upped the ante condsiderably with some flawless and exciting renditions of piano pieces by Jean-Louis Nicodé; short movements from a suite entitled 'Andenken An Robert Schumann'. (pieces in the style of) . The final piece of these, was simply brilliant, and if any piece of music is begging to be orchestrated, then this is it. Callaghan proved to be a superb pianist, and I liked his style greatly. I have never seen / heard him perform before, but I must look out for him in future.
The third pianist in this evening's concert was the inimitable Grigory Gruzman. Garnering the largest and longest applause of the evening, and it was not difficult to understand why, his energy and enthusiam was infectious. What Gruzman didn't know about music was obviously simply not worth knowing, and his mastery, technique, touch, poise, and artistry was second to none. Not only did he entertain with his amazing playing, but also gave us all a little lecture / masterclass too. It was entertaining and educational, and the piano became a whole orchestra under his fingers! It must also be noted that he was so far the first pianist to play without sheet music. Playing first Bagatelles, Allegros and a Presto from Beethoven's oeuvre, then moving on chronologically to Etudes by Liszt; but the biggest surprise of all came with his final selection; two short movements from the suite 'Play Piano Play' by Friedrich Gulda. Gulda is a composer I had never heard of - I NEED to research and listen to more! The pieces were highly modern, jazz-infused but firmly rooted in classical techinique, and played by Gruzman with such elan and dexterity, not to mention passion. Is it wrong for me to be just a little bit in love with Gruzman?!
The penultimate pianist this evening had a very hard task - namely... follow that! The pianist was Murray McLachlan, and fortunately he had chosen a piece of music so varying in style and mood that it was impossible to draw any comparison, and although the muisc he did chose was not to my taste, he played it with skill and passion, and the composer - who was in the audience - seemed extremely pleased with McLachlan's interpretation. It was Sonata No 1 by Scottish composer John McLeod.
A stirring, broody piece full of Scottish fire, but far too dissonant for me to really be able to enjoy.
Finally, the evening finished with Carlo Grante - again playing without sheet music - and delighting us with nimble fingering and lightness of touch. He played two pieces; starting with a very sensitive and intelligent rendition of Debussy's 'L'Isle Joyeuse', and then finishing the concert with the well known Fantasy On The Ruins Of Athens by Liszt. This again played excellently and made a superb finish to the evening's concert. My only slight criticism was that at 2 hours non-stop without interval, this concert was a little long for the audience. A short break in the middle somewhere would have been appreciated.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 21/8/19
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