Sadly, this wasn’t a classic

One of the things that all classical pianists need to learn is to keep still at the end of a slow movement. After all, the final chord is a very special point in a piece of music. The culmination of the ongoing narrative, and an opportunity for repose and reflection.

It would be unthinkable for a conductor to be moving around at the conclusion of an orchestral slow movement and it’s no different for a pianist. This is either something that a musician realises instinctively, or observes in the good practice of others, or has to be taught.

Sadly there was a tendency during his lunchtime recital at St John’s for Alasdair Cameron to fiddle unnecessarily with his sheet music while performing the opening Chopin group. But things deteriorated still further at the end of Schubert’s lovely A flat Moment Musical, wrongly described in the programme as an impromptu.

While the music was still continuing, with the final chord held by the sustaining pedal, he ostentatiously lifted the score from the piano desk, closed it, and handed it to his page-turner. Distracting the audience from a sublime moment, and effectively upstaging his own performance.

Of course the good news is that it’s easy enough to correct this fault. Slightly more challenging for Alasdair may be to differentiate more clearly between finger and arm movements at the piano. For instance his performance of Chopin’s G minor Nocturne Opus 37 would have been greatly improved with a release of arm-weight on the first note and the many occasions when it recurs.

Rather than pushing downwards with the hand, arm-weight gradually released through the surface of the key brings about a much more mellow tone. And when the fingers take over, as in the many melismas in this wistful piece, using them without help from the hand achieves more control and accuracy.

Having said all that there were some pleasing features of this intimate and unshowy recital. It started by contrasting two of Chopin’s most romantic nocturnes with two more recondite mazurkas. In Chopin’s subtle treatment these are no longer vigorous folk-dances but elusive meditations. Surprisingly the C sharp minor Nocturne also includes a mazurka melody. It was played by Alasdair Cameron with immense relish and indicated some thoughtful programme-planning.

His recital was completed by Schubert’s febrile E flat minor Klavierstucke or Piano Piece, also inaccurately billed as an impromptu, and by Liszt’s scintillating Play of the Waters. Here Alasdair successfully negotiated the many technical challenges in a committed and well-organ-