5***** Review: Nottingham Recital Lakeside Arts
“His whole recital was a satisfying blend of technical bravura, poetic insight and a deep understanding of Rachmaninov’s musical imagination.”
The musical world has been celebrating this year the 150th anniversary of the great Russian composer, pianist and conductor Sergei Rachmaninov. Concert programmes around the world have featured even more of his music than usual but I can’t say I have encountered any that surpass the tribute constructed by Australian pianist Jayson Gillham and performed by him on Thursday night at Lakeside. Here were not only Rachmaninov’s own compositions and transcriptions but also the music of his beloved Chopin: all music which Rachmaninov used to perform on the concert tours which occupied so much of his life after he escaped from Russia in 1918.
Jayson began with a selection of the Études-tableaux, short pieces which fuse technical and musical challenges with a highly evocative poetic vision. The first (in C minor) nailed Jayson’s colours firmly to the mast and brought spontaneous applause from the audience. Those lucky enough to have a clear view of his hands would have seen the most extraordinary manual gymnastics as he coped with fistfuls of notes with apparent ease.