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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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 .

Lang Lang: a little bit of stardust in Southam Hall

Lang Lang with Anita Pari Like many National Arts Centre regulars, the idea of a Lang Lang concert sounded fantastic... except that for me the Gala tickets are rather too expensive. As a result the turnout for today's masterclass with young artists Anita Pari (Ottawa), Alexander Malikov (Calgary), and Tina Chong (Banff) in Southam Hall was pretty good. No surprises that there were photographers and a TV camera all over the stage... so much so that during Lang's analysis of Malikov's rendition of Transcendental Étude No 8 'Wild Hunt' (Liszt), someone shouted at the cameraman to move. To my mind they seemed a little intrusive on the performances, but none of the artists seemed to take any notice. Lang Lang with Tina Chong Up first and for me the best performance was Anita Pari with the captivating Ballade No 1 by Chopin. In comparison, Malikov's performance did not have anywhere near as much projection. Final performer Tina Chong seemed

New talent at Southminster

As a follow-on from last weekend's excellent Chopin concert, there is an afternoon of New Artists from the NAC's Summer Music Institute at Southminster United Church on 17th June. Entitled 'Dover Beach and other works for summertime', the concert features new artists Katarzyna Sadej , Emily Nenninger , Drew Santini, Hannah Min, Paul Casey , Karen Kang and Bryan Wagorn. I had the chance to hear Bryan Wagorn at one of University of Ottawa's Concerts at the NAC 4th Stage concerts back in February and thoroughly enjoyed his performance. The proposed programme is very enticing: MENDELSSOHN String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13 MONIUSZKO Sen (The Dream) Prząśniczka (Spinner Girl) SZYMANOWSKI Lecioły Zórazie (The Swans Were Flying) Ściani Dumbek (The Dark Forest) CHOPIN Piosnka Litewska (Lithuanian Folksong) Moja Pieszczotka

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