Real pleasure for player and audience
It was good to have Isata Kenneh-Mason back at the wonderful Steinway in Perth Concert Hall on Sunday, May 23.
Isata’s programme ranged from Mozart through Chopin to Gershwin and Samuel Barber’s epic Sonata.
Mozart’s Sonata No14 in C minor K457 was exemplary: a dark, dramatic start, nicely flexible playing with clean fingerwork.
Isata’s face showed real pleasure and engagement in the piece.
The Adagio was a foil to both the first and third movements: a serene oasis played with delicacy. One of the most serious finales Mozart wrote ended with poignant thoughts before its fateful end.
Chopin’s Ballade No2 showed Isata’s felicity in sound painting.
The gently rocking start faded to a dramatic change with stormy runs and a treble flash of lightening, later going on to pianistic grandeur. Sections were recalled before the final quiet thoughts.
The Three Preludes of Gershwin were played with sparkle and verve. The first as wanted -‘ritmico’, the Andante second was a sinuous, bluesy song, with, as it asks for, flexible rubato.
Finally came the bustle of an up-tempo number. All characterized with distinction.
Samuel Barber’s Piano Sonata had Isata plunging into the dark first movement. Leggero was the word for the contrast of movement two – more like fireflies than fairies.
She was at her best in the mesto (sad) third movement moving its passacaglia tread to a towering climax.
The formidable four-voiced fugue that drives this piece to its spectacular end had great technique and lively interpretation.