March 2nd 2016
The culture at Sherborne of boys taking their music performance diploma, which entitles them to the post-nominal letters ATCL, has grown enormously over the past decade. The examination, a 35-minute recital performed to CD quality, is a remarkable feat of stamina and musicianship and it is exciting to have two boys, Ally Collins (L6f) and Theo Beeny (U6c) entered this season. They will take the exam on Tuesday 8th of March, but as part of their preparation they presented their programmes to a packed Tindall Recital Hall on Wednesday 2nd March.
Ally offered a selection of pieces drawn from the Romantic heart of the piano repertoire. Beethoven’s Sonata in C minor N.8 Op.13 (Pathétique), a piece written on the cusp of the nineteenth century, was performed with great sensitivity paired with an inherent sense of theatricality. There was a suitably carefree and light atmosphere to the Impromptu in Gb major Op.90. No.3 and Ally closed his recital with a tour-de-force rendition of Brahm’s luxuriant and exotic Rhapsody in G minor Op. 79 No.2.
Theo presented a more experimental programme as he gave three works by twentieth-century composers: Koetsier’s Allegro Brillante, Krol’s Laudatio and Glière’s Romance and Valse Triste.Especially ambitious was the unaccompanied Laudatio, but it absolutely paid off and was one of the high points of the evening. Theo finished with the Third of Mozart’s Horn Concerti, written for the virtuoso Joseph Leutgeb, and played with vitality and technical assurance.
