April 2009

Dear Music-lover,

You know, sometimes I think that the next generation is going to turn out all right, after all.

Yasmin Rowe, the winner of the senior class in the Moray Piano Competition, 2008 travelled early to Inverness and arrived at my house with her father (John) the day before the concert in order to practise on my piano that evening and the following morning. It wasn't easy for me, trying to work in my study with wonderful music below. And it can't have been easy for Yasmin, as she agreed to play some 4-hand duets with me and to accompany me on the clarinet. Bearing in mind that my teacher's dog suddenly finds it necessary to go into the garden, as soon as I start playing, Yasmin showed fortitude indeed (and a healthy respect for her elders!)

I really enjoyed her recital. She and John had been charming guests at a pre-concert supper we held for the ICMS sponsors - she left early - and her performance belied her 20 years. Starting with a Scarlatti sonata, in which the fast, repeated notes illustrated her technical ability, she moved on through Haydn to Liszt's "Vallee d'Obermann", where her power and intensity hinted at her true passion - the later Romantic period. This was confirmed after the interval, where (to my ear) the colours in the Rachmaninov preludes mirrored those of Debussy and Ravel, whose works followed. The steadying pace of the Ravel "Pavane" was in lovely contrast and the concert was concluded with the dramatic, cascading waterfall of Debussy's "L'isle Joyeuse".

Happily, of course, the concert wasn't concluded then, for Yasmin returned to offer an encore of Martin Butler's "Lucifer's Banjo", which not only echoed Scarlatti's repetitions, but had Yasmin rising off the piano stool before the final chord.

On Wednesday, 14th May, a complete contrast; the Sax-Ecosse Saxophone Quartet, with a combination a classical music, light jazz and a world premiere of a work by Eddie McGuire.

See you there,