Richard Zhang at St James’s Piccadilly Masterly playing of dynamic drive and breathtaking authority
An eclectic programme of three blocks culminating in a monumental performance of the Schumann Carnaval op 9 played more in the style of Serkin than Rubinstein . Playing of dynamic drive rather than stylistic freedom with a scrupulous attention always to the composers indications with a musicianship of intellect rather than spirituality. From the very first notes of the Prelude of the Sixth English Suite there was a beautiful flowing simplicity and purity erupting into a rhythmic dance of clarity and brilliance. An architectural line of aristocratic importance of nobility and inevitability.The Scriabin poem grew out of this noble edifice with playing of radiant improvised beauty and a sense of style of pulsating energy. Ravel’s ‘Jeux d’eau’ closed this first block of pieces with luminosity and glowing beauty with wafts of sounds of remarkable fluidity and technical mastery.
