Callum McLachlan, piano: Orlando Gibbons: Lord Salisbury’s Pavanne; Beethoven: Piano Sonata in A op 101; Ravel: Miroirs; Rachmaninov: Etude Tableau op 39/9
Callum McLachlan is 25 and a veteran of various music competitions – a finalist of the 18th International Robert Schumann Competition Zwickau among others. He was at Chetham’s School of Music, then Trinity College, and the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg. He’s clearly on the cusp of a busy career – but of course competition is tough and performance opportunities scarce – hence the value of the many churches and other buildings in London offering lunchtime concerts throughout the year
The last time I was in this church for a lunchtime concert it was winter or an early Spring day, and there were only about 20 people present, some of whom seemed to be there more for the relative warmth than the music. This time there must have been a diverse group of 100 who were much more appreciative. I thought the highlight of the concert was the Beethoven. It’s a work whose thematic material I recognised but I had no idea of how those themes were developed or the different movements. Mr McLachlan’s playing – clear, not over-virtuosic – enabled me to appreciate the contrasts of the different movements – the wistful first, the energetic dance-like second, the strange short adagio, which ends with the 1st movement theme, and the last movement, a bounding allegro with what I think is a development of that 1st movement theme. It looks towards late Beethoven in its quirkiness and I felt comfortable with Mr McLachlan as a guide to it. The Ravel Miroirs and the Rachmaninov I couldn’t warm to – my fault, not theirs – but I am glad he played the most famous of the Brahms late Intermezzos, as an encore, which strengthened my view of his competence, given the very many famous renditions there are of this piece. My only regret was that he didn’t say more about the pieces he was playing – he only got round to doing this for the encore, and the comments he made – was this Brahms mourning in a sort of lullaby for the children he never had, or was he thinking back to his own childhood? – were just the sort of pointers helpful to an audience in thinking about how to respond to a work. I am glad this was a successful concert for him
John's musical journey 