Dinara Klinton piano: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor Op. 111; Prokofiev, Piano Sonata No. 8 in B flat Op. 84
The Benjamin Britten Piano Fellowship was won in 2014 by Ukrainian-born Dinara Klinton who currently combines the role of Professor of Piano at the Royal College of Music with her career as a concert and recording artist. Like Heldenleben in my last blog post, the late Beethoven piano sonatas are also in the London buses category – I’m hearing them several times in the next few months – next week in Sheffield and Andras Schiff in September at the Proms
Ms Klinton gave what I thought was a very clear exposition of the Op 111 Beethoven sonata – muscular and rhythmically tense in the first movement and taking me on a story I could understand in the 2nd. It probably wasn’t a performance strong on mystical insights, but I found it very satisfying, with the different stages of the variations clearly delineated. I enjoyed also the Prokofiev Piano Sonata, apparently the third and longest of the Three War Sonatas he wrote, first performed at the end of 1944, in Moscow, by Emil Gilels. Again, Ms Klinton signposted very clearly for me the different stages of the sonata’s journey, with the wistful ballet-like melodies very well-done, and some ferociously clear and steely playing in the finale. One of the better of the lunchtime recitals I have been to recently…..
Ms Klinton played two encores – one was a piece called ‘Song’ by a Ukrainian composer written in 1929; the other piece might have been by Rachmaninov
John's musical journey 