A concert to mark Noretta Conci-Leech’s 60th Birthday and the launch of the Keyboard Trust
19 February 1991 at the National Westminster Hall, London
Featuring:
Nigel Allcoat
Maria Garzon
Leslie Howard
Iwan Llewellyn-Jones
Ian Munro
Jean-Louis Steuerman
Andrew Wilde
Recording engineer: Peter Nicholls
Click below to listen to the concert:
PROGRAMME:
Jean-Louis Steuerman
J.S. Bach – Italian Concerto, BWV 971
I Allegro
II Andante
III Presto
Ian Munro & Leslie Howard
Beethoven – Sonata for four hands in D major, Op 6
Andrew Wilde
Chopin – Bacarolle, Op. 60
Iwan Llewellyn-Jones
Ravel – Alborada del gracioso from Miroirs
INTERVAL
Ian Munro & Leslie Howard
Rachmaninov – Suite No. 2 for two pianos, Op. 17
I Introduction
II Valse
III Romance
IV Tarantella
Jean-Louis Steuerman, Victor Sangiorgio, Iwan Llewellyn-Jones & Ian Munro
Smetana – Sonata (in one movement) for two pianos, eight hands
Iwan Llewellyn-Jones, Ian Munro & Leslie Howard
Grainger – Green Bushes (from British Folk-Music Settings) for two pianos, six hands
Jean-Louis Steuerman, Iwan Llewellyn-Jones, Ian Munro & Leslie Howard
Liszt – Rákóczy March, S. 117 for two pianos, eight hands
Nigel Allcoat, Ian Munro & Leslie Howard
J.S. Bach arr. Grainger – Toccata in F major, BWV 540 for three pianos
The snow had begun to fall softly that February day in 1991. By early evening its loose mass became treacherous under a brittle and doubly slithery crust. The car descended the slope to the Old Banking Hall in Old Broad Street, famous in the City of London’s august banking district, almost under its own weight. Especially on her 60th Birthday, it had been more difficult than usual to enthuse Noretta to turn out for an event which I had been at pains to describe as one of my ‘City functions’ requiring the presence of spouses, making it clear that I expected to share her boredom. It would be a duty call for us both. All that changed in a flash, literally of flashlights, as we walked through the door. Instead of the City Beagle there was a sea of friendly faces, well-wishers with ‘Happy Birthday’s, embraces and high expectancy. They had been bidden to a concert to honour Noretta’s 60 years and to listen to some of her advanced students. Assembled in the oriental splendour of the original National Bank’s Banking Hall, amid solid marble columns proclaiming that institution’s wealth amassed in Empire and beyond, was some of the cream of London’s music world, together with our music-loving friends and those for whom we wanted it to become a habit. On the stage stood three Steinway concert grands, enthusiastically prepared by Leslie Howard, himself one of Noretta’s star students. It had begun with an idea for a birthday tribute, to honour Noretta’s work in grooming young concert pianists and helping to prepare their careers. Surely she deserved a public concert by some of her best, as would they the chance to shine in public. Only as I realised that most were not the ones who any longer needed that exposure most critically, did I think of all the other brilliant talents out there who lacked such an opportunity. Even as an accomplished diplomate with a self-evident talent, how do you get onto a concert platform to charm your public? And if doing the circuit of music societies and prize concerts begins to establish your name, how do you make it known also in the important music centres of the world outside? Only the rare winner of a major competition will be offered a chance of concerts outside the home patch. What was needed was an organisation that offered a wide range of international performing opportunities, coupled with the funds to get to them. And only that could enable the really talented to make the transition from formal education to a professional and international career.
An extract from The Gift of Music – The Keyboard Trust at 30 by John Leech & Christopher Axworthy
