February highs - Lubomyr Melynck at Opera North

Courtesy of Erased Tapes, Lubomyr Melynck was already on my radar so his concert at Leeds' Howard Assembly Rooms on 24th February was an easy choice. The Hungarian/Canadian pianist describes his style as 'continuous music' and treated the audience to a witty monologue before his performance. I will leave Lubomyr to describe continuous music himself - see his website. The fastest pianist in the world is also a strong proponent of acoustic listening and was delighted that the concert could be performed acoustically (no amplification) due to the acoustics of the Howard Assembly Room.

The performance was of 4 pieces of which special mention goes to Butterfly - definitely my favourite. The piece exists in solo piano and 2 piano versions, and in different recorded versions (excellent CD of this piece purchased at the show). So full of hope and beauty. The final piece performed was Windmills, which is written for 2 pianos. Lubomyr had recorded one part earlier that afternoon on the same piano to then play the other part live in concert. This was the only time where there was a pre-record/amplification. Absolutely superb in parts, but some bits of Windmills I did find a bit harsh.

Experiencing the evening's performance was like a river of emotions - lots of hope and beauty (Lubomyr is big on experiencing beauty). Fantastic! Some of Lubomyr's music is on labels, some self released - see his website and bandcamp page for more; his music is also on Spotify and YouTube.

The support act was also fantastic. Young cellist Tim Smedley performed a half hour set of Jean Langlais, John Tavener and Philip Glass. I loved Threnos by Tavener - sparse but in no way austere; very cleansing. The opener, Ligne by Langlais, was fascinating.

Earlier in the day I went to the Leeds University lunchtime concert of clarinet trio pieces. An excellent performance and I really enjoyed the Robert Muczynski Fantasy Trio Op. 26.

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