Musical Opinion Review of 'English Piano Music'

Simon Callaghan, piano

(DE RODE POMP label )

With the plethora of CD’s available on the market today, it was refreshing to hear one which ‘ticks’ all the boxes. In this recital of English piano music, the William Sterndale Bennett Sonata in F minor is a revelation. With its inevitable influences from Mendelssohn and occasionally Schumann, this four-movement work is delivered with some of the finest piano playing I have heard in years. Simon Callaghan is a musician of the highest calibre, whose elegant phrasing and subtle rubato responds sensitively and with complete sincerity and conviction to the changing moods of the music. On a technical level he rises to the demands of this work, particularly in the frenetic scherzo and gallop like finale.

And so to the rest of the disc, which is no different. Two short pieces by the organist/composer, William Thomas Best, receive their first recording here and are played with absolute commitment. The Hubert Parry ‘Shulbrede Tunes’ – a set of ten miniatures based around the people and place of Shulbrede Priory (home of Parry’s daughter) – are equally well-played, with Callaghan bringing out all the subtleties and drama of the music with considerable élan. Who could fail, not to be moved by the exquisite ‘Dolly (No 2), with its Elgarian nostalgia, played here with refined taste?

This disc has been a constant companion and I would recommend it unreservedly. If you do buy it, play it to your friends, they may do what I did and think it was Murray Perahia!

(Please visit the CD page to purchase a copy)

October 19, 2009

Slaithwaite Philharmonic Orchestra, Huddersfield Town Hall

BENJAMIN Ellin began his second season as conductor with an excellent programme of German and Russian music. Not only does he lead with flair on the podium, his choice of programme titles is imaginative and his 5 Little Bites of information on each composer shows communication begins before and continues after the performance.

The orchestra is flourishing under Ellin and leader Peter Simons. The opening of Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage depicted the majesty of the ocean in the strings with the orchestra painting an expressive picture.

The highlight was Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto number 3 in D minor. Soloist Simon Callaghan was superb and the audience adored his characterful playing of this difficult masterpiece. The relationship between Callaghan, Ellin and the orchestra was organic, with the thematic ideas shared with ease and precision.

Naturally the cadenzas gave Callaghan the space to show his immense keyboard dexterity.  Medtner’s Skazka crowned a magnificent performance.

Brahms’ symphony number 3 in F major brought out new and interesting colours – the cellos played beautifully in the famous third movement and the ensemble responded well to Ellin’s leadership in the finale.

I feel able to challenge the orchestra to tighten discipline, especially in regard to tuning and placement of notes.

David Heathcote

With never a note out of place, Simon Callaghan stayed within the bounds of safety as he reasonably could in a programme of varied styles.  His ‘Mainly Mozart’ concert of last January in this series led us to expect great fluency and he didn’t disappoint in the slightest as he glided dream-like through Schumann’s.Arabeske, Op. 18 and moved fluently into the subtle humour of Haydn’s Sonata in G (1776).

That much alone was impressive enough, not the least because at a few days’ notice, he was replacing his teacher, the ailing Yonty Solomon, which is no enviable position in which to be.

But the remainder of the admirable programme was a major tour-de-force,  highly-coloured reading of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, in which Callaghan vividly and faultlessly described each tableau, powerful (that Gate) or delicate (The Unhatched Chicks), without ever losing sight of the balance of the whole. If there were any reason not to want an encore, it was only so as to leave this ringing in the ears as we departed.