William Bracken at the Bechstein Hall armed with our early morning coffee we entered the starlit wonder that is this new Bechstein Hall.
What a marvel that Terry Lewis together with Bechstein dedicate much time to giving an important space for young musicians to play in,the greatest musical metropolis in the world.
I have followed this young man’s student career and it is good to see a prize student becoming an authoritative artist gaining accolades with each performance .
A forty minute programme played almost without a break as he united Clara and Robert with an umbilical of improvised transitions from one piece to another. This was quite the norm in the hall just next door in the early 1900 ‘s when artists such as De Pachman would join the pieces together and also give a running commentary as to how they were progressing .Will did not go that far but it shows off the skill of a real musician who is not only an interpreter but also a transmitter of emotions and atmosphere’s .
Will did say a word or two after the Scriabin 9th Sonata, known as the Black Mass, where tumultuous tortured sounds were floated on a cauldron of red hot vibrations with a mastery and authoritative conviction that was astonishing. As he said we had had our dose of caffein and he had had his dose of Scriabin.
It was in the Scriabin ,Unsuk Chin and Debussy Arpeggio study that the mastery of this young artist was revealed to the full. The ravishing floating sounds of Debussy and scintillating outbursts of astonishing dynamic drive, where Debussy can turn dry arpeggios ,in his last years, into vibrant living strands of sound of unbelievable poignancy and power.The same sounds as Scriabin, a true kaleidoscope of hypnotic decadence as Scriabin reaches the star of his mystic belief. Will attacked the piano like a man possessed and it was breathtaking and overwhelming for the transcendental mastery and the authority and conviction of his playing . I well remember Will’s ‘Esprit de joie’ by Messian in previous recitals and it was the same pungent sounds of broken glass that reached deep inside us all as he punched out the sounds with the same mystic belief of it’s creator .’Traumes Wirren’ by Schumann that had appeared on the programme as ‘Traumerei’, came as a pleasant surprise as the refreshing jeux perlé and charm of Will’s playing brought us full circle, as had intimated in his warmly friendly introduction
If Chopin fared less well it was a small price to pay for such masterly playing of composers a century later. A Chopin Nocturne dissected with Will’s extraordinary intellect but which seemed to be sliced into two with episodes not related with his explosive playing of the central episode.It is curious that such a master could not contemplate the architectural shape and texture of one of Chopin’s most touching tone poems. I think that like Aimard, his love for certain pungent sounds will come full circle as his great artistry matures and grows .The Nocturne by Clara Schumann fared much better and this great love letter from Clara to Robert (she uses the same theme as his Fantasy op 17 and it was published at the same time and with Robert’s Fantasy written as an outpouring of the love of his life and eventual mother of their eight children ). Here Will managed to conceive this miniature jewel as one glorious whole and improvised , without a break, into the searing romantic waves of sound of Robert’s ‘In der Nacht’. Played with a passionate drive and sumptuous romantic sounds as Schumann floats one of his most beautiful melodies on a cauldron of windy sounds just as Will had done in Scriabin.The difference of course is that one is of a satanic ritual and the other of romantic effusions . A wonderful improvisation to Warum just confirmed the musicianship and courage of this true thinking musician.
William Bracken is in 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, 1st prize, press prize and audience prize at the 2023 Euregio Piano Award international piano competition and 3rd prize at the 2024 UniSA international piano competition in South Africa. He is currently continuing studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where he also holds a position as teaching assistant in the Centre for Creative Performance and 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”. He also made his New York debut at Carnegie’s Weill recital hall in January 2024.
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 a founding member of Ensemble+, a chamber collective focused primarily on challenging preconceptions about live music through the medium of improvisation and is a current artist diploma student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama studying with profs. Martin Roscoe and Ronan O’Hora.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 