Encore?
November 23rd, 2009I was lucky enough to attend Nikolai Demidenko’s recital at the Wimbledon music festival last Saturday.
The Great Hall of King’s College School is a great venue for a piano recital, with a lovely atmosphere and good acoustic. A haven on what was a horrible damp evening. Since it was the first year of the festival I am prepared to forgive the confusion over seating. When our group of twelve arrived to take up our reserved seats in row 3, there were only six seats available in that row. I hope in future they will number the seats.
Demidenko’s playing was superb! He plays with great colour and range and his sense of rhythm and pace are flawless. At times during the Schubert Sonata in D I was sure that he had other instruments at his disposal, such was the variety of sound he produced.
The performance should have ended with Mussorgsky’s masterpiece “Pictures at an Exhibition.” I say should have, because after Demidenko had transported the audience around that famous exhibition and left us transfixed in wonder, he returned to play two short encore pieces which, nice though they were, left me feeling somewhat downbeat. Is it just me or does anyone else agree, that these encores often add nothing to the entertainment? By their very nature they tend to be short un-substantial pieces that detract from the crescendo of the programmed pieces. There are bound to be exceptions but in this case they were superfluous.
To find out more about our music events for singles see Events.
Many thanks for being so tolerant in this blog post. My complete family members could benefit from your views.
Additionally, there, on the cliff above, stood the temple, hardly noticeable. You should collect some notions from Gaboriau, resumed the stranger.