New Year music: Anna Tsybuleva in Skipton (and a postscript for Alina Ibragimova)

January brought 'piano night' to Skipton for the piano recital event of this year's Skipton Music season. Following on from her win at the 2015 Leeds International Piano Competition, Anna Tsybuleva has received several concert invites including here in Skipton. After her performance in Hebden Bridge last spring, I was looking forward to this concert. Whereas the Hebden Bridge programme was more 'traditional' - Schubert, Beethoven, Liszt - the programme for the 24th January recital in Skipton was more varied (more of her own favourites, perhaps?): CPE Bach Fantasy in F sharp minor H.300; Schumann Symphonic Etudes Op. 13; Medtner Sonata in G minor Op. 22; a selection from da Játékok by György Kurtág; and four Preludes plus L'Isle Joyeuse of Debussy.

Anna's demeanour throughout was of unfussy, confident elegance. The Fantasy started out in contemplative mode (quite apt for a work night concert!?) with the expression following almost acting as a starter for Schumann. In the Symphonic Etudes, very well received by the audience, I enjoyed the theme and variations emotional journey - with plenty of dynamic

Perhaps the hardest piece to comprehend was the Medtner Sonata. Not a piece I am familiar with and here maybe the control slipped - whilst there were sections of the one-movement piece that were superb soundscapes, I struggled to grasp the whole. The Kurtág pieces were fantastic - especially Les Adieux and Doina - powerfully simple and unnerving; and the Debussy selection was a sure crowd pleaser to finish.

Throughout the concert, Anna's control was both extremely admirable, yet perhaps a tad limiting. The evening was more than enjoyable and plenty to think on - but having seen her perform twice, it seems that Anna is quite guarded in her interactions with her audience - plenty of smiles but no conversations outside of the piano. Maybe a little more looseness would assist in transmitting her musical message.

Having written this I realised I had completely missed writing about Alina Ibragimova's December recital! Sorry Alina! It was a really exuberant performance, Bach and Ysaÿe. The Bach first half really good The Ysaÿe Sonatas were sometimes quite dense - namely, Kreisler Sonata - but the Aurora movement from Sonata No. 5 (Op. 27 No 5) was awesome.

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 .

Pigeon Funk

Notes on a very random purchase. Earlier today I acquired Venetian Snares 'Rossz Csillag Alatt Sz ü letett ' purely on the basis of the language and artwork. Its certainly something different - and most definitely not pop. After a bit of searching: Venetial Snares is, according to Wikipedia, the performing name of Aaron Funk, who seems to specialise in experimental tracks in odd time signatures. Article here . The sleeve notes for this album (whose title is Hungarian for 'Born under a bad star') poses the question: what if, for just a day, we could both be pigeons? Interessant. Apparently this concept (a day in the life of a Hungarian pigeon) is non-typical of Venetian Snares sound, but one could ask, does Mr Funk do 'typical'? On first listening, the sound of this CD mixes classical/traditional Hungarian sounds and breakbeats. but aside from that? Definitely a 'listen for yourself' artist; try the website , fan site or myspace .

The Venezuelan maestro comes to Cardiff

A highly anticipated evening of entertainment for M and I, we headed to St Davids Hall to see the conductor of the moment, Gustavo Dudamel , conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra . Highly entertaining, too, and the place was pretty full, though possibly not sold out. We had anticipated the first piece to be Antonio Estevez' 'Mediodia en el llano', but a last minute change meant the first work was (I believe - the posters up in the venue were rather short on info!) Berlioz' Roman Carnival. Initially we may have been a tad disappointed but the replacement work was excellently peformed, cue many smiles. Unfortunately, the smiles soon evaporated, as the second, and for us, least interesting piece, was Mozart's Piano Concert No.17 K453 with Emanuel Ax on piano. M described Ax as mellow, I described him as dull. That may be because neither of us are really into Mozart, but compared to previous visits to St Davids Hall to see pianists Noriko Ogawa and Freddy Kempf, we really...

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