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The Review - MUSIC - classical & jazz with JOEL TAYLOR
Published: 22 February 2007
 
Romantic music in a healthy state

REVIEW - GRACE MO

LSO St Lukes

I WAS lucky enough to drop in at the Friday lunchtime concert at LSO St Luke’s last week and what a pleasure it turned out to be.
I must confess it was the first time I have been to this series of events but it was a supremely uplifting and enjoyable occasion.
Sitting on the balcony facing the Taiwanese pianist Grace Mo, the audience was treated to a brief history lesson looking at the Romantic movement.
So we had Chopin, Rachmaninov and Liszt, three composers more romantic it would be hard to find.
We begin with Chopin’s Barcarolle Op 60, a work written while Chopin was in a relationship with the writer George Sand.
And as presenter Rachel Leach told us, a barcarolle is the traditional song sung by Venetian gondoliers and it was easy to imagine a couple sitting in one of those crafts as it weaves its way through the narrow canals.
Mo was particularly effective during Rachmaninov’s tumultuous Etudes-tableaux, perfectly recreating the ferocity of a storm seemingly imagined by the composer.
And the concert finished with Liszt’s Dante Sonata.
I have always had a bit of a problem with Liszt. Highly skilled and virtuosic, I am yet reminded of that great Dudley Moore sketch where he improvises a never ending Beethoven sonata.
For me, much of Liszt sounds this way, he composes a piece finding ever more ingenious and complicated ways of concluding.
This is no disrespect to Grace Mo who demonstrated what an excellent pianist she is, combining technical wizardry with impressive attention to detail.
I always think it is the slower parts of a piano work that tell the most about a pianist rather than the fast flowing sections.
And Mo showed distinct talent with her appreciation of the pauses and more poignant passages in all the works.
What makes these occasions especially enjoyable are the little snippets of history explained by Leach, a presenter who gives accessible commentary to the works selected.
Tickets to these weekly events are free and they are clearly popular locally as at least 250 people had turned up.
And the audience have the opportunity to ask questions. One person asked if romantic classical music would ever be revived.
I thought he had his answer. It clearly is in a very healthy state if such a concert can attract such numbers during a busy Friday lunch hour.

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