More about Piano Grande 15th Nov 2009

My review of Piano Grande!
As usual, the Goverment House Ballroom proved to have superb acoustic for chamber music.
While amplification gets used there - the people speaking at the lecturn had it - it is rarely needed for the performance. The two Fazioli pianos rang clearly for the piano and forte extremes.
Graeme Gilling and Mark Coughlan played a Percy Grainger arrangement of Bach (a Cantata extract). Despite being a familiar Bach tune it seemed more Grainger than Bach, almost expressionist in style.
Then came a Mozart Sonata for 2 pianos played by Yoon Sen Lee and Kathy Chow. I'm not much of a Mozart fan so this mostly just passed by for me. I was impressed by the calm confidence of both performers and Kathy's lightning flick of the arm to turn the pages of her score.
Next was a short piano duet from Poulenc - much lighter than I would expect of him. Played in a sprightly manner by Mark and Lyn Garland. Mark credited Lyn for suggesting the piece and observed that unearthing some rarely played pieces was one benefit of assembling a program to highlight the two Fazioli pianos.
And it was certainly a highlight that followed as Emily Green-Armytage and Adam Pinto explored with gusto Rachmaninov's Suite No 2 (Op.17). In four movements this was by turns energetic and sublime. As ever, part of the audience applauded by mistake after the "intro" movement but by the end of the third ("romance") I would have welcomed a chance to reward such worthy playing. But with no pause Emily and Adam launched into the "tarantelle" which undulated fittingly all the way to its climax. An energised audience gave a well deserved long applause.
During the break, many in the audience went up to get a closer look at the pianos. I don't listen to much piano music so my opinion can't say a lot. I did consider the higher notes to be free of that uncomfortable xylophone pettiness that I normally note in the upper register.
After interval there was a speech from Barry Palmer covering the other purpose of the concert - the 40th birthday for local firm Zenith Music. I used to live in the suburb where they are based and could verify their long history of supporting music teaching. As a left-handed guitarist Zenith was a must-see when I moved to Perth in 1980 and my two neglected acoustic guitars were both bought there.
The second half proper began with four pianists on two pianos for a Smetana Rondo in C major. I remember that I enjoyed it but can now only recall the cosiness of so many hands sharing the keyboards. Little did I know what was yet to come.
Next was the seven year old Shuan Lee playing opposite his father Yoon Sen Lee for a grand sweep through themes from Yellow River Concerto and more. In some ways this was reminiscent of the Grainger/Bach combination earlier on. A fluid mixture of distinctly Chinese phrasings within the swirling familiarity of that most Western instrument - the piano. Watching Shuan Lee bob about was an unexpected bonus but was the only childlike aspect of his performance. One to watch there.
The next item was listed as a Rachmaninov Romance for three performers. I presumed this would be two at one piano and one at the other. Not so! All three were crammed together at one keyboard. Emily in the middle had to play with almost straight arms as Graeme and Lyn were on either side of her. Somehow the piece was coherent and I gave up guessing which player had which lines. I'm glad for their sakes it was a short piece.
For the final piece Bo An Lu came out and reprised his Young Performers Awards feat of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1 with Mark Coughlan tackling the piano reduction of the orchestral sections. A tour de force as you'd expect and a perfect counterpart to the end of the first half. I have to say the piano reduction seemed troublesome in places - I'd not heard it before. Indeed I'm fairly sure that was the first time I've a reduction piano arrangement played opposite a solo piano.
All in all the whole concert was a superb exploration of two grand instruments and you certainly didn't need to be a "piano nut" - as Mark Coughlan put it - to be enthralled by magical works in a wonderful space played by great pianists on truly grande instruments. My thanks to all involved.