Some exquisite playing of rare beauty from Kyle Hutchings, the troubadour of the piano.
Mozart’s C minor Fantasy was played out with dramatic contrasts of whispered beauty.His playing completely without accents or ungrateful sounds but always with the human voice in mind that allowed the music to unfold in a quite unique way. We were drawn in to the sounds as eavesdroppers in the magical atmosphere of this beautiful candlelit church that the City Music of Warren Mailley- Smith regularly fill with glorious music.https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/09/21/warren-mailley-smith-a-man-for-all-seasons-a-love-of-music-illuminated-by-candlelight/
There was a radiance to the sound as the dynamic contrasts that Mozart marks were played with a sense of balance and proportion as indeed it must have sounded on a keyboard of that period.There was a softness to the sound where the ‘forte’ seemed to dissolve into ‘piano’ without ever disturbing the musical line.The arabesques played with the same subtle colour as a singer as the music moved forward with some quite exquisite playing of repeated notes that became mere vibrations accompanying the melodic line that could sing so naturally without any forced projection. Even the Allegro was played with restrained sounds where everything was in civilised proportion where ‘forte ‘ had a dramatic effect because the ‘piano’ answer was played with whispered delicacy and always perfectly in proportion with a radiant tone of glowing beauty.A melodic line played with beautiful phrasing and a rarely experienced sensibility. An Andantino that was an oasis of civilised conversation.Streams of notes in the Più Allegro with a disarming recitativo finishing in a miraculous whispered sigh making way for the reappearance of the imperious opening. An extraordinary sound world where everything was perfectly in proportion but without any apparent projection, allowing for the creation of a kaleidoscope of sounds of exquisite glowing purity as this young troubadour revealed the secrets hidden deep in his artistic fantasy world.
A nobility to Beethoven’s penultimate sonata that was a timeless outpouring of ravishing sounds as the composer reached for the heights with sublime inspiration. An opening of undulating beauty as though it had appeared miraculously from afar where even the ‘Adagio espressivo’ became part of this fluid sound world played with an improvised freedom where the dramatic climaxes were alway within an overall framework of a continuous mellifluous outpouring of exquisite beauty.Streams of gently expressive notes brought us back to the undulating melody that was always present. A ‘Prestissimo’ played fearlessly but also shaped with beauty and clarity. Kyle may have missed the irascible impatience of Beethoven but he filled this movement with the same energy that was also part of Beethoven’s incontrollable temperament.The heart of this work is the last movement :a theme and variations of exquisite beauty and string quartet quality where every strand of the counterpoints has a deep significance.Kyle chose a tempo in which the theme could move with aristocratic nobility and intensity .There was magic in the air as he barely touched the B of the second half of the theme but with a glowing purity that was quite sublime.The first variation was played ‘molto espressivo’ but with a nobility and aristocratic simplicity that contrasted with the feathlight notes of the second. Beethoven bursting unexpectedly into song interrupted by the etherial ‘leggiermente’ as it moved towards the ‘Allegro vivace’ of the fourth variation. Allegro it might have been but with streams of notes alternating between the hands with masterly control and also an unusual fantasy that suddenly was revealed in the fourth variation.Beethoven here miraculously allows the theme to unfold with a continuous wave of sounds that he marks ‘piacevole’.It was indeed a release of tension and a breath of fresh air that blew over the keys as Kyle’s poetic fingers seemed to move on a wave of mellifluous beauty. Interrupted by the fifth which is a rather serious fugato that was played with dynamic drive but also with a superb sense of line and always musically impeccable.The return of the theme with Beethoven’s world of vibrating sounds was played with miraculous mastery and simplicity as it built to the climax or ‘star’ where the theme was allowed to shine brightly above these streams of sounds. All this was played with a simplicity and with head bowed in complete concentration intent on recreating the same visionary beauty that the composer obviously had conceived in his head.What a miracle that the composer,completely deaf could write down the sounds he had in his head for posterity.The ending was played with the same disarming simplicity with which this young poet of the keyboard had shared with us in this penultimate Sonata that was to signal the beginning of the end of the tormented life of the Genius from Bonn.
Franck’s haunting Prelude ,Fugue and Variation reverberated around this candlelit church creating a magic that will long be remembered. A transcription by the Scottish pianist Bauer it shows the improvisation quality of this piece written for organ with it’s magical opening theme floating in rarified air as it is transformed and in three movements that are united by the sublime beauty of this hauntingly beautiful melody.Here Kyle’s sense of architectural shape and uniting colouration took us on a wondrous journey where the sounds floated around this beautiful edifice with the same spiritual meaning that inspired Franck in his church of St Clotilde in Paris.
Three atmospheric pieces by Mompou ended the concert and where the glowing fluidity of his playing was filled with a languid beauty only to be relieved by an encore ,by great deman, of Schaefer’s beguiling transcription of a song by Rachmaninov.
An evening in which dreams became reality with music that was truly born on the ‘wings of song’
And just an hour later the remarkable Warren Mailley-Smith was playing The Trout Quintet whilst just next door skating was the order of the day at Somerset House https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/09/21/warren-mailley-smith-a-man-for-all-seasons-a-love-of-music-illuminated-by-candlelight/
Second of a series of four concerts in collaboration with the Keyboard Trust
The Strand Rising Stars Series – Sherri Lun The magic and artistry of a star shining brightly
Misha Kaploukhii mastery and clarity in Walton’s paradise where dreams become reality – updated to include the Sheepdrove Competition and graduation recital
Magdalene Ho A musical genius in Paradise
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 