Ke Ma at St Mary’s – “Masterly playing of intelligence and poignant beauty”
Some superb musicianly playing from Ke Ma. From the very first notes of the Schubert G flat Impromptu there were beautiful rich sounds of changing harmonies on which emerged the melodic line .Incorporated into the harmonic fabric the melodic line emerged with such strength and beauty. A disarming simplicity in which Schubert’s ‘Liebestraum’ was not of bitter sweet sentimentality but strong sentiments of poignant beauty. Playing of almost orchestral proportions as the F minor impromptu unwound with a rhythmic energy and buoyancy with moments of joyous excitement as the embellishments were thrown off with such deliberation. The central episode had a luminosity without ever loosing the rhythmic propulsion of this final exhilarating Impromptu. There were moments of great fantasy as Schubert seemed to be searching for a way back to the opening exhilarating dance. It was played with beauty and intelligent musicianship creating a tension of expectation just waiting for the moment of arrival and unwinding of the spring to lead to the return of the dance and the final great plunge to the bottom of the keyboard.
