Tuesday 5 December 2.00 pm

Some more remarkable playing from this young musician who I had heard in the early stages of his student career at the Guildhall.It was a Beethoven competition streamed during the pandemic where he played very musically and diligently and did in fact win the competition.I would never have imagined though that he would mature ,even under such superb musical guidance from Martin Roscoe and Ronan o ‘Hora,into the artist that we have now witnessed twice at St Mary’s within the last ten days.His performance for the Liszt Society as winner of their previous competition revealed an artist who had grown in stature since the previous years victory.Now again after only ten days I am astonished by his even more mature mastery of style and pianistic colour allied to a security both technical and musical.Not only giving note perfect ( in every sense) performances but being able to share his obvious love and passion for music with such eloquent and intelligent words.The exquisite sounds of chiselled beauty are those that only a true believer like Messiaen would dare write with such fervent devotion.Deep mediative sounds combined with a very devout atmosphere where layers of chiselled sounds would be thrown on top with heart rending meaning and untamed devotion.The performances of two of the Preludes showed a kaleidoscopic sense of colour allied to a musicianship that could guide us so directly to the very core of the creation where William had told us that so few notes could mean so much.The number of notes was to increase quite considerably as Messiaen matured and his devotion became ever more intense.The ‘Regard de l’Esprit de Joie’ is a well known tour de force for any pianist.It was Jean- Rodolphe Kars who brought it to our attention in the rounds of the first Leeds Competition over 50 years ago.Substituting for Michelangeli at the last minute too at the Royal Festival Hall we had a chance again to hear this clean clear brilliance that allowed the music of Messiaen to hypnotise us with his religious and his ornithologic obsession.Kars became a Trappist Monk as he obviously felt the music in the same way as Messiaen!William played it with the same clarity and ‘Aimard’ type brilliance and precision that was quite remarkable for a live performance from memory .Anyone who has seen the score of Messiaen’s works will appreciate what a tour de force that truly is.To all this was added the ‘Spanish’ part of the recital with insinuatingly tantalising performances of Debussy in Spanish mood( how right William was to note that it takes French composers to write convincing Spanish music!) .A Mompou that can be better appreciated in this context and in smaller quantities than we are being exposed to these days.

There was a simple beauty and a gracious sense of style that he showed in the Haydn Variations that he brought vividly to life with each variation given its own character but within a framework that was masterly held together.Even the slight addition of ornaments was done with subtle good taste that just added to the refined beauty of these variations.Mozart too and even the appoggiatura played as acciaccatura in the last movement was the choice of a thinking musician who could bring Mozart’s characters centre stage with such evident bucolic enjoyment and joie de vivre.The Andante too was played with profound simplicity and a wondrous range of sounds but always with the sense of style and graciousness that were of their time.No encore was possible after the tumultuous ending created by his Messiaen but it would not have surprised me if he,like Serkin,would have sat down and played the Aria from the Goldberg Variations ………followed by their thirty or so off spring!Chapeau indeed dear William onwards and upwards!

Messiaen: ‘La Colombe’ from Preludes

  

William Bracken is in high demand as a recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber musician and teacher. The Wirral-born pianist has won numerous awards including 1st prize at the 2022 Liszt Society International Piano Competition and 1st prize, press prize and audience prize at the 2023 Euregio Piano Award international piano competition. He is currently continuing studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where he also holds a position as assistant professor of classical improvisation. Concert highlights include several concerto performances at The Barbican, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, St. John’s Smith Square and recitals at Chipping Campden Festival, LSO St. Luke’s and most recently Wigmore Hall, where he was praised by the Telegraph for his “courage and stamina and musicality in abundance” and “an ability to hold an audience in the palm of his hand”.

William has worked with many of today’s leading musicians including Stephen Hough, Richard Goode, Simon Trpceski and Paul Lewis. In 2022 William was made a scholar of the Imogen Cooper music trust which involved participating in a week of intensive study in the south of France with renowned pianist Dame Imogen Cooper – that summer he also won a full scholarship to attend the Aspen Music Festival and Summer School in Colorado U.S.A, studying with Hung-Kuan Chen and Fabio Bidini. William performs a large and diverse range of repertoire and also has a keen interest in jazz and improvisational elements of performing classical music. He is supported in his postgraduate studies with profs. Martin Roscoe and Ronan O’Hora by the GSMD.

Liszt in Perivale – The Universal Genius – The voyage of discovery continues