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Even more excellence: Gabriela Montero, Cafe Culture

Mid-month and my concert calendar is in full swing. When tickets for Gabriela Montero were released, I decided to treat myself to a day trip to Wigmore Hall on 13th November. Definitely worth the effort!

The recital programme was Schumann's Kinderszenen Op. 15 and Shostakovich's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor, Op. 61. First, the Kinderszenen. Deftly demonstrating the variety within this set of piece, the intensity of Gabriela's performance went up and up - at the point of Traumerei, any audience murmur hushed completely; after this most famous piece, I thought the performance got even better. 

The Shostakovich Piano Sonata was (is) a complete contrast. Written during wartime and in between his Seventh and Eighth Symphonies, the sonata, whilst a memorial to former piano teacher Leonid Nikolaev, also contains a commentary on the times. The three movements are dramatic, lyrical, tragic. For me - a lot of angst in the first movement, moving from an almost skip, through bells tolling, to a maniacal unease; some emotional similarity to Prokofiev's sonata of the same time?

The second movement, largo, is the essence of Shostakovich's memorial to Nikolaev. A waltz, albeit sad and full of memory; fine subtle dynamics here. The final movement, a take on a theme & variations with a very wide range of moods, became almost as if the piano was a machine! An excellent performance and definitely one to revisit. Even though attending live, I am looking forward to re-hearing the concert via iPlayer.

The recital ended with an improvisation. Rather than asking the audience for a motif (which I think many were expecting), Gabriela created a fresh improvisation lamenting her broken country. A very touching lament and fitting perfectly with the Shostakovich and there were certainly no audience complaints, very much the opposite!

A few days' brain rest and a concert with a difference. Members of Skipton Camerata have worked with local bistro Hettie's to put on a series called Cafe Culture, with chamber music performances alongside an evening meal. Wednesday's concert was themed 'Clara Schumann: A Woman's Place' and included her Piano Trio alongside that of Niels Gade. On arrival we had an introductory talk about Clara Schumann and her G minor Piano Trio - themes, structure, revolutionary aspects - all very interesting - before a simple supper laid on by Hettie's staff. After supper we heard both Trios in performance. It was a nice, friendly way to showcase excellent music in a very good performance - I know that there are music lovers who find the formal concert setting a bit off-putting, and this was a really nice way to perform chamber music in a setting more akin to how such music would originally have been heard.
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