PETER
DONOHOE
Holy
Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon ****
Stratford Music Festival was host to something of a groundbreaking
coup in Shakespeare’s church last Thursday, when one of the world’s greatest
pianists entertained us with composers whose music was new to his already vast
repertoire.
Promoted in connection with the Stratford-upon-Avon Music
Society, this 50th anniversary recital for the Denne Gilkes Memorial
Fund was given by Peter Donohoe. In many ways it was Chopin-derived, but the
novelties came with him exploring two of Spain’s greatest composers.
Donohoe began with Busoni’s powerful, arresting Variations
on a Theme of Chopin, Donohoe unleashing its torrent of virtuosity but also
homing in on a lovely little waltz section with left-hand eloquence. Textures
were frequently Rachmaninovian, and indeed the first half of the recital concluded
with that composer’s own Variations on a Theme of Chopin (incidentally, the
same C minor Prelude).
This began as a Bachian fantasia, but all the Rachmaninov
fingerprints gradually emerged, building to a finale where Donohoe delineated
so many layers of pianistic activity.
Two tiny, understated gems by Chopin himself were the
filling in this doorstep sandwich: the famous “Minute” Waltz in D-flat major,
followed by its enharmonic sibling, the Waltz in C-sharp minor, the one wispy
and filigree from Donohoe, the other sweetly romanticised.
The novelties came in the second half, beginning with items
from Albeniz’ massive “Iberia” collection. Donohoe brought wonderful colour and
characterisation to these offerings, encompassing their extremes of virtuosity
with clarity and an often guitar-like articulation. The composer never seems to
know when to stop, however, which perhaps stirs impatience.
More compact were movements from Granados’ Goyescas, ruminatively
Chopinesque in texture (Los requiebros) and strongly rhythmic (El fandango del
candil), and rendered by Donohoe with persuasive delicacy.
His encore was another of the Goyescas, the intensely emotional
Maiden and the Nightingale, but perhaps more appropriate to send us home would
have been Granados’ irresistible Andalucia, with its ear-worm of a middle
section to haunt our dreams.
Christopher Morley