Tyler Hay at St Mary’s Perivale – the gentle giant with a heart of gold and magic fingers
I have heard Tyler play many times over the past few years and it is good to see how he has matured into an artist of great stature. A technical assurance allied to a musical intelligence and curiosity that allows him to delve deep into the piano archives finding many unjustly neglected scores. The marvel is that Tyler together with Mark Viner and Thomas Kelly are a hope for future music making and are able to bring their discoveries vividly to life in recording and on the concert platform Three artists ,each very different, all with a superb technical training giving their playing such weight and assurance. Not always an easy thing as much of the music was written for composer – virtuosi and make great demands on the pianist. All three received their early training at the Purcell School for gifted young musicians and all three went to the Royal College of Music to perfect the base that they had been given as gifted youths. Both Tyler and Mark Viner studied with that superb trainer of young musicians Tessa Nicholson (both later perfecting their studies with Niel Immelman). Another of her students from Purcell and later continuing with her at the RAM, Alim Beisembayev ,recently won the Gold Medal at the Leeds. Thomas Kelly studied with the late Alan Ball at the Purcell School and later at the RCM .The intense beauty Tyler brought to the Field nocturnes was matched by the dynamic virtuosity required from Clementi (his infamous Gradus ad Parnassum gives some idea of what is expected).The Liszt Venezia e Napoli showed off his superb sense of style as well as dynamic showmanship.
