The enthusiastic audience assembled by Classic Concerts Trust and Watford Musical Heritage again had the good fortune to hear performances by brilliant young musicians whose names may well become world-famous in a few years' time. Being all in their late teens, they benefit from the experience of playing in public on such occasions. Inevitably, the ordeal sometimes tested their confidence.
In total, 14 works were played, in whole or in part. Of those that had several movements, there was not time for all the movements to be played. Julia Liang (violin) and Olga Jorgensen (piano) started bravely with the first movement (Vivace ma non troppo) of the Sonata in G major, opus 78, by Brahms. By the end of the movement Julia had gained in confidence; she and the pianist achieved good co-ordination. But as we were not to hear the two further movements of this Sonata, there was a sense of incompleteness.
The little-known English composer York Bowen was represented by his Sonata for Horn and Piano, opus 101. Helena Jacklin (horn) played only the third movement, Allegro con spirito, accompanied by Daniel King Smith. In spite of the warming-up difficulty that affects especially brass instruments, her range of volume, tone and feeling was impressive.
Gyorgy Ligeti (1923-2006) was a Romanian, or perhaps one should say Hungarian, who was fortunate to survive the World War Two. He was enslaved by the Nazis and later suffered from the Soviet ban on 'degenerate' Western music. He studied not only the classics (such as Bach and Mozart) but also the moderns (such as Bartok and Stravinsky). Of his Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet, written in 1953, the first, third and fourth were played by Charlotte Ashton (flute), Lavinia Redman (oboe), Jordan Black (clarinet), Charlotte Cox (bassoon) and Helena Jacklin (horn). This combination worked well. Modern compositional technique was applied to simple themes, and the result was novel and lively.
The last performer was Susana Gomez-Vazquez (piano), who told me afterwards that she would like to specialise in the romantic period: daring as this is for a 16-year old to say, she is making a good start. After two pieces by Rachmaninov, she played Chopin's Ballade in G minor, opus 23. She has a sense of Chopin's inventiveness, and renders both his lyrical and forceful passages convincingly. Above all, she obviously enjoys the music: and so did we.
Graham Mordue
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