Steven Osborne is, of course recognised as one of Scotland’s finest pianists, but for this tour, he has chosen to accompany his wife Jean who is a clarinettist. They had originally planned to play for us in January, but he unfortunately slipped on ice and broke a finger, which is not such a good idea when fully functioning fingers are essential! Although the finger was still strapped, Steven felt able to resume their tour, albeit with some changes to accommodate what he felt was a slight lack of strength in the offending finger. We wouldn’t have noticed! Perhaps the accident was fortuitous, because the original concert was scheduled during what turned out to be a period of dreadful weather, and our audience might have struggled to attend. As a result of the change of date, March turned out to be a musical feast of a month for Inverness concert-goers.
The concert showcased the talents of Jean, and began with three romances by Schumann which were originally written for oboe, but which were wonderfully suited to the clarinet. Steven then took us up to the interval with superb interpretations of several Ravel pieces. As he finished, there was a reverential – and stunned – silence at the delicacy of his playing.
The second half was back to clarinet and piano, with a light-hearted but virtuosic finale of George Gershwin songs arranged by Steven. Paul Crowe, our Secretary is our nominated page turner, and Steven instructed him to follow the clarinet part, not the piano line. Paul’s grin was a mile wide as he realised that Steven was improvising his part, and which brought home to us what a diverse talent he has, perfectly at home with the classical repertoire, but also able to transfer to the jazz scene. Paul was so impressed that he intends to attend Steven’s talk at the Edinburgh Festival on improvisation.
Another very happy outing for our piano – and a treat for the tinklers and blowers in our audience.
Inverness Chamber Music | sitemap | log in
