Tuesday 15 March 3.00 pm

Bach: Prelude and Fugue in F# Minor Book 1

Beethoven: Sonata in E Minor Op 90
(2 movements)

Mompou: El Lago, from ‘Paisajes’

Granados: ‘The Maiden and the Nightingale’ from Goyescas

Chopin: Barcarolle Op 60

Samuel Barber: Piano Sonata in Eb Minor op 26
Allegro / Allegro / Adagio / Fugue

A tour de force of playing from this the eldest member of the illustrious McLachlan clan.Now in his final year at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Claus Tansky he has matured into an artist of stature with something important to say.
A simple honest musicianship that allows the music to speak so naturally and with such impeccable good taste.Above all he has learnt the secret of how to make the piano sing whether it be from the mellifluous almost religious Bach F sharp minor fugue or the astonishing pyrotechnics of Barber written for the wizardry of Horowitz.
Sang it did too in the most Schubertian of Beethovens sonatas op 90,the gateway to the final paradise that the totally deaf composer could envisage with such wonder and mystery.
There were etherial sounds too in Mompou’s depiction of the serenity of the Lake or the sublime beauty of Granados’Maiden and the Nightingale.

But it was from the very first deep bass note of Chopin’s Barcarolle that we were aware that we were in the hands of a real artist.
A continuous stream of beauty from the tranquil lapping of the water and simplicity of the gondoliers song leading so gently to the aristocratic passionate outbursts contained in Chopin’s most sublime creation.
Of course Barber’s stark world was given with the drive and obsessive insistence more associated with Scriabin than Chopin.Played with astonishing athleticism and technical control but also a kaleidoscope of sounds that made the climax of the austere slow movement quite overwhelming in its intensity.The scherzo was a tour de force of dexterity and resilience but it was the gigantic fugue that saw Callum conquering all the notorious challenges that Barber had lain at the feet of the greatest virtuoso of all time,Vladimir Horowitz.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=0Z5t9nKTIKM&feature=share

Callum Mclachlan was born into a family of musicians, and started lessons with his father at the age of 7, and entered Chetham’s School of Music at age 11, where he studied with Dina Parakhina. He currently studies at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg. He has performed at many prestigious concert venues in the UK, Europe and USA, including performing Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, works of Benjamin Britten in Steinway Hall London and Liszt’s 2nd Piano Concerto at RNCM Concert Hall and at the Turner Sims Concert Hall in Southampton. In 2019, he made his New York recital debut, performing works of Beethoven, Brahms and Percy Grainger. Most recently, he made a recording of Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata in Salzburg, in collaboration with G. Henle Verlag. He has won 1st prizes in the Welsh International Piano Competition, The Youth Scottish International Piano Competition, the RNCM Chopin Competition as well as reaching the final of the EPTA Piano Competiton. He is a prize-winner of the Musical Odyssey Talent Unlimited Prize. He also receives funding from the Royal Philharmonic Society, who generously support his studies abroad. 

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2019/07/10/callum-mclachlan-at-st-marys-2/

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/2019/12/19/the-joy-of-music-for-christmas/