Skip to main content

A foretaste of greater things - Maria Marchant in Darlington (and Angela Hewitt)

Having missed last season's concerts, I was determined to start well with the current selection of performances through Darlington Piano Society. A bright, sunny October afternoon on 12th found M and I in the Dolphin Centre for an afternoon of music by Maria Marchant. Definitely a name to watch, Maria opened the 2014 season with a very thoughtful programme 'Conflicts and Memories - The First World War' featuring a selection of works composed around the war years from French, Russian and British composers - Debussy, Ravel, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and John Ireland. Maria chose to introduce each set of pieces before playing.

The concert was organised at the beginning with Debussy's Berceuse héroïque and Élégie, followed by Rachmaninov's Études-Tableaux, Op. 39 - Nos 8 and 5. Whilst these works were well performed, especially No. 8 of Rachmaninov's set, I felt Maria lacked a certain degree of stage presence. This was much improved, however, throughout the following three sets of pieces by John Ireland. Maria is a notable advocate of British music and this came through in her representation of Ireland's Rhapsody (1915); Ballade of London Nights; and London Pieces - Chelsea Reach/Ragamuffin/Soho Forenoons. The Rhapsody was full of waves and shimmers, lightness amongst its strength and power. Within the Ballade of London Nights, there was a mixture of city and rural idyll with a few Debussy-esque twists. To end the first half, we were treated to three lively and witty London Pieces.

The second half continued in the same mood with a strong performance of selected pieces from Prokofiev's Visions Fugitives, Op.22 - encompassing a whole range of emotions relating to war and a lost homeland. New works to my ears but very very interesting. 

To finish off the afternoon, we heard Ravel's Le tombeau de Couperin and here the level dropped. Like the start of the recital, not a bad performance but perhaps lacking a bit of conviction. This is in comparison to Alexandra Dariescu's recital earlier this year, in which the wholeness of the performance was more consistent.

Also announced at the recital was a special concert in memory of Dave Robson, who was a founding member of Darlington Piano Society. Who to perform - none less than Angela Hewitt. Very much excited! The date has been set as Sunday 15th March 2015 (venue as the Dolphin Centre), with further details to come shortly.       

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Angela Hewitt Week, 14th-20th May 2012

I just received information from a friend about Angela Hewitt Week in Ottawa, 14th-20th May as declared by Mayor Jim Watson. Ms Hewitt is performing with Chamber Players of Canada on Friday 18th May; there will also be An Afternoon With Angela Hewitt on 20th May at the National Arts Centre hosted by the Canadian Friends of the Trasimeno Music Festival .

Mini update

I have finally sorted out my site links to reflect some new/renewed interests and my current location. We have something of a National Arts Centre bonanza shortly: I had already booked to see Angela Hewitt on 16th Feb but found a good ticket offer on LivingSocial.com to see Radu Lupu this coming Wednesday, 26th. In addition to all that, New Yorker music critic Alex Ross (his recent book, Listen To This , is excellent, as well as his previous tome, The Rest Is Noise ) is giving a talk there on 13th February. This is all followed in March by a complete about turn to the Bronson Centre to see Finnish band Apocalyptica . They have been somewhere on my radar for a while but I was spurred on to book tickets after a bout of nostalgia. M and I were regular visitors to Wolverhampton UK to see various bands at Civic Hall/Wulfrun Hall; a few months ago a mutual friend posted on that there Facebook thing about seeing said Apocalyptica at Wulfrun Hall. Nostalgia for the venue and renewed intere...

Light, shade and sunshine - Chiaroscuro String Quartet and Gesualdo Six

Another new year, another hectic start! However I have found some time for concerts. The January edition of Skipton Music featured trailblazers Chiaroscuro String Quartet . The quartet perform with gut strings but that doesn't mean they're old fashioned! They generally perform standing up and certainly there is a lot of movement and vibrancy in their performances. The programme was: BEETHOVEN     String Quartet in D major Op.18, No. 3 MENDELSSOHN     String Quartet in E flat major, Op. 12 SCHUBERT     String Quartet No.14 in D minor, D810 I have a love/hate relationship with the Schubert 'Death and the Maiden' quartet (much like the Brahms piano quintet) and I have to say I wasn't expecting to enjoy it... but in fact this was the best performance of the evening.   There's another review on the Skipton Music page here .  Just as spring seems to be coming (judging by the bright blue sky outside my window), I h...