During my half term break I was given the opportunity to review my first concert. This was held at The Foundling Museum in association with the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe. Catherine Wright and Hazel Lee played two pieces each and looked smart for the occasion. I had pen and notebook to hand as the concert started and was looking forward to it! Both pianists are very talented.
The first piece of the concert was the Piano Sonata, Op.10 no.3 by Beethoven, in three movements. The first movement started very fast and I thought it was a brilliant way to enter the performance because it was in a happy mood. This movement was mostly legato moving from loud to soft although at parts it was staccato. The movement was played all around the piano as the right hand played the higher notes and the left hand played the lower notes. The second movement was very different to the first as this was in a very soft and slow tempo but was legato as well, going from piano to forte on occasions. There are lots of sudden crescendo and decrescendos, and the movement finishes as a decrescendo all the way to pianissimo. The third movement starts very jumpy and staccato. It starts at mezzo forte and then creeps up to forte on a scale going up on to the high notes. Later in the movement, the playing changes to legato, with a mixture of louds and softs, ending on a very enjoyable loud legato.
The second piece was played by Hazel Lee and was the Piano Sonata, Op.109 no.3 in three movements. Unfortunately I did not take notes of the third movement as I was so deeply interested in this piece. The first movement was short and spiky at a high speed, mostly played on the higher notes, and mainly mezzo piano. The second movement starts very slowly, building up speed, often using scales from the low notes to the high notes and visa versa. This movement finishes very fast, loud and staccato.
The third piece was the Etude, Op.42 no.3 by Aleksandr Scriabin and played by Hazel Lee. It is in a single movement, which starts very soft, legato and slow, gradually moving faster to mezzo forte. Suddenly there is a vast change in this piece as it turns very fast and staccato. This piece finishes legato still quite loud and kept me interested the whole time.
The fourth and final piece was played by Catherine Wright and was called "La Campanella", no. 3 of 6 Grand Etudes after Paganini by Ferenc Liszt. This was my favourite piece of the concert. It was incredibly presto leading up to prestissimo at parts, fantastic and breathtaking. What a brilliant way to end the concert.
Once Catherine finished Hazel came to join her for the final round of applause, which seemed to go on forever and was well deserved. I had a great time attending the concert and thank Bachtrack for giving me the opportunity to do this. I'm looking forward to the next concert! If you love music and play this is a great way to see how far this talent can go.
Roberto Falzone, age 13 (attends St Ignatius College, Enfield)
