Philip James Leslie at St Mary le Strand
A ‘Rising Star’ with ravishing sounds and refined musicianship
Philip Leslie proved himself to be indeed a rising star with Debussy Preludes of ravishing sounds and refined musicianship. Followed by Debussy’s vision of Jersey from Eastbourne with a tone poem of unimaginable passionate persuasion . But it was the sublime Humoreske of Schumann that filled these majestic walls with sounds worthy of this beautiful edifice. Florestan and Eusebius were at last united in the celebration of sublime beauty in the hands of a refined poet of the keyboard. A single encore of Paderewski’s Minuet in G was a homage to his teacher the renowned pianist Philip Fowke who was there to pass on the baton to a worthy successor.
The restrained elegance of Debussy’s depiction of the sculpture in the Louvre of the ‘Dancers of Delphi’ with Philip’s kaleidoscope of magic sounds creating the unworldly atmosphere that it evoked. The radiance and ethereal wafts of colour that Philip floated over the keyboard was of a beauty on which these ‘sails or veils’ were being blown by a warm luxuriant breeze. He brought the pulsation of Naples to the ‘Hills of Anacapri’ with its brilliance and splashes of colour. Even the sleazy ‘modéré et expressif’ was full of insinuating beauty and the final triumphant outpouring of joy was played with fearless brilliance to the final chiselled shout of joy .There was a masterly build up of sound in the ‘Submerged Cathedral’ with it’s sense of grandeur and religious ferment .The beautiful plain chant ‘un peu moins lent (dans une expression allant grandissant) rang around this magnificent edifice with haunting beauty and solemnity. What fun Philip had with ‘Puck’s dance’ where the impish masquerading just flew form his fingers with titivating brilliance. The last word was to Puck with a stream of sounds played pianissimo ‘rapide et fuyant’ with a final poke deep in the bass.
Read more here at Christopher Axworthy’s blog
