Gabrielė Sutkutė at Leighton House, London – a star is born
A star was truly in our midst as was obvious from the moment she was on stage hardly able to wait to tickle the keys in this sumptuous art deco music room. What fun she had looking for the ‘farmers cat’ in Haydn’s hilarious Capriccio before the earth shattering Drums and pipes of Bartok exploded onto the scene. If only our star would smile and show us how much fun she was having.
The Bartok was like an atom bomb as she attacked the piano with very unseemly vehemence. A transcendental control that took us into the bleak night mists where creatures buzzed all around the keyboard in an astonishing display of dynamic fantasy.The ‘Chase’ was now on but who was chasing whom! No time to stop and question with such exhilaration and driving excitement.
Liszt’s delicious memories of Italy were revealed by Gabrielé with subtlety and showmanship. The Italian temperament of warmth and passionate participation for the good things in life brought Liszt’s ‘biondina’ beguilingly to life as a great Italian tenor entered the scene intoning ‘ no greater pain than this ‘ .But it was the ‘Tarantella’ that truly astonished and seduced with scintillating fireworks and mouth watering heart on sleeve sentiments.
