May 21st 2019
Frederick Folkes (3a Sch Mus.) started this varied programme of keyboard music from the early 18th century to the present day with a cornerstone of the repertory: the fourteenth of Bach’s two part inventions. Tastefully articulated and highlighting the dialogue between the two melodic strands, a stylish and apposite way to being this showcase of the pianists of Sherborne.
Contrasting and complementing the Bach which opened the concert, George Jefferson (L6e Sch. Mus.) presented a late romantic reinterpretation of the Baroque contrapuntal style of Bach in a Fughetta by Belgian composer Guillaume Lekeu. No doubt informed by his recent playing of a Bach fugue in his Grade 8 organ exam, George tackled the demands of demonstrating the contrasting characters of the fugal episodes with ease.
Returning to Bach, William Miao (3f Sch. Mus.) demonstrated Bach’s more lyrical and expressive side of Bach’s keyboard music with a gently flowing account of the F minor prelude from the first book of The Well Tempered Clavier, a series of preludes and fugues which Bach wrote ‘for the profit and use of the studious musical young’.
Born in the same year as Bach (and Handel), Domenico Scarlatti’s Sonata in D gave Marcus Bradley (4e Exh. Mus.) an opportunity publicly to perform repertoire in preparation for his ABRSM Grade 8 exam. Technically demanding and requiring the performer to simultaneously achieve a boldness in the articulation and a lightness in the influence evident from the popular dance forms of the day, Marcus rose to the challenge and gave a commendable performance of this tricky work. He then followed this with the wholly contrasting ‘Voiles’ by Debussy. Notable for its use of the whole-tone scale and composed in what would become the celebrated Impressionistic style, Marcus deftly portrayed the drifting sails depicted by the music with appropriate and striking use of the pedal throughout.
Clearly inspired by the Impressionistic music of the early 20th century, the concert programme ended with two pieces by Zhang Zhao and Chu Wanghua, both hailing from China and hugely successful composers, although still relatively unknown in the Anglosphere. Jamie Rawlings (L6m) played Zhang’s Remote Xianggelila (the word ‘xianggelila’ roughly translates as ‘unspoilt paradise’), and deftly balanced the demands of simultaneously bringing out the elements of the pentatonic melody inspired by traditional Chinese music, and the more familiar Western harmony and piano writing, culminating in a flashy cadenza-like arpeggio spanning the full range of the instrument. Hector Fiennes then similarly balanced the contrasting elements of different musical traditions with Chu’s Love Song.
However, where Zhang’s piece was serene and delicate, Chu’s is more introspective, almost brooding in its subtle use of dissonance as the folk song which forms the basis of the melody is transformed through reharmonized presentations and colouristic effects using the lowest register of the piano. This allowed Hector’s maturity as a performer shine through in a nuanced and delicate performance to close another thoroughly enjoyable concert of varied piano music from the musicians of Sherborne.
Elliott Park, Music Teacher
