So, here as promised are the first two of the three musical treats I promised you in yesterday's post. Recorded during the Summer of 2005 while they both attended a residential music course :
- Button plays a short piece from Little Flowers by the German composer Cornelius Gurlitt, followed by another short piece by Diabelli; and
- the Boy Wonder plays Chopin's Nocturne Op.72 no. 1 in E minor
Unfortunately, I am unable to offer you a recording of the BW's much publicized (by me) performance of Debussy's Dr Gradus ad Parnassum as part of the recital Hogwarts Pianists in Concert, which the PO attended back in November. I can report, however, that the seventy or so people who attended that concert were treated to a series of wonderful interpretations of some familiar and other less familiar works.
Actually, the PO must admit that when he first looked at the programme for the recital and saw the list of pieces that the Hogwarts pupils intended to play - and the fact that the BW was to perform eighth of fourteen - he was filled with apprehension. And as a succession of remarkably self-possessed young pianists - including, incidentally, Young Mr Hoskins (playing The Schoolmaster by Lutoslawski), followed later by his Slightly Older Sister - stepped up and played with poise and flawless technique, he could not help but silently pray to himself : "Please don't let the BW be the one who makes a mistake or stumbles mid-way through his piece."
Of course, he need not have worried. It's not as if the BW was betraying any sign of nerves, after all - he didn't even get his music out until the previous performer neared the end of his Bach Prelude and Fugue. And when he started playing, well... the PO is not ashamed to admit that, like the Hip Granny before him, he struggled to stop his emotions from getting the better of him, as tears began to fill his eyes. As the BW's fingers glided effortlessly across the keyboard (he played from memory, managing in the process to terrify the PO, who was convinced he had forgotten to turn the page) he demonstrated not only a sure technique and a remarkable elegance of touch, but an astonishingly mature emotional understanding of the piece. It was a night that will remain engraved on the PO's memory for many years to come.
What's more, as the third of the PO's promised musical treats (to be posted here in the next couple of days) shows, all the indications are that there will be many more similarly memorable evenings to come.
Sometimes, being a father is the easiest job in the world.
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