7 July: Colin Stone at Wigmore Hall
Colin was recommended by one of our audience. I googled him and guess what, he is a well established pianist with an impressive background. I really wondered if someone like him would accept my request to perform at such a small venue like Breinton, so I couldn't believe how friendly and positive he was when I approached him. He kindly invited me to his Wigmore Hall concert, where he played the piano for the London Mozart Trio. They played trios by Schubert, Rachmaninov and Mendelssohn. My favourite was Mendelssohn, I love his trios. The 2nd Movement of the Trio No.1 was breathtakingly beautiful, so expressive and deep. I look forward to having him to give us a solo recital at Breinton. 2010 is Chopin's bicentenial year, so his program will be related to that.....you cannot miss it!
4 September 2009: Tom Gould at St. James's Church Piccadilly
For two months in summer, I didn't go to a single concert, and I was desperately ready for some good music! Tom Gould, who is performing for us on September 19th, appeared as violinist in the Lithos Piano Trio performing trios by Haydn and Shostakovich. I was so glad to have gone to this concert - it was awesome! Tom's violin was stunning, those clear and crisp sounds he produced filled the entire church. I loved Haydn 'Gypsy' trio, with the 3rd movement so light and joyful. I loved Shostakovich's Trio No. 2 even more, this dark piece which showed the composer's loneliness and aggitation. Oh it gave me a chilling sensation..... You know I'm not a music critique so I don't know difficult technical stuff much, but I truly enjoyed this performance and came out of the church fully refreshed!
5 September 2009: Tom Poster at St. John's Wood Church
Two days in a row! Tom played Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 4, which is my favourite. I was sitting in the front row so may be this put him under a lot of pressure (yes again!). Anyway this time I could see every single finger movement he made, which was a fabulous experience. He was in a good form! This concerto starts with beautiful piano solo. I really love this beginning... Tom's expressive, sensitive and precise playing was fabulous. Just one thing, I didn't like the piano that much. It was a Faziolo, as I remember, and had rather unclear and opaque sounds. It was like trying to see things in hazy weather, not being able to reach an itchy spot, do you know what I mean???
9 October - Leslie Howard
We were invited to John’s birthday party last Saturday and had the great honour to meet the pianist Leslie Howard. He is well known as a Liszt specialist who has recorded Liszt’s complete works for solo piano (97 CDs in all!).
Oh my gosh….at the party he casually sat in front of John’s Kawai grand, and played so many pieces by memory. First off, he played Jack Fina’s Bumble Boogie, arranged by Louis Busch. This wasn’t by heart, Dave had brought the score along to the party and Leslie just sight read this complicated music, playing it instantaneously. I mean, this is music he had never seen nor played, and we’re not talking about simple music. It looked mighty difficult to me – I wouldn’t be able to play even one hand!
