An Unassuming Prodigy
Again, musical excellence takes varied, and often unexpected, forms, genres, and performance levels, and Hastings seems to have more than its share. We go on here to hail yet another prodigy, born here, lived here till he was six, then came back the other day to favour the locals with a terrific, accomplished, and individual piano recital.
The Stables has, for the past few months, given a series of piano recitals, mainly by the well-established British pianist Margaret Fingerhut and various of her pupils. Forty or so years before Xhosa Cole, she was also selected as a Young Musician of the Year, and she has had an impeccable career as a soloist and teacher.
Fitting, then, that the final concert in The Stables series was by one of her pupils: a Hastings-born, unassuming prodigy named Phillip Leslie. It was a rare privilege to hear him perform. The programme was, in his own words, “quite difficult”. In fact, like the other young pupil, Daisuke Yoshida, this pianist presented us with astonishing renditions of fiendishly complex pieces, which even their composers found challenging.
The first piece, Mozart’s second sonata, is perhaps not known for its difficulty, though obviously not in easy pieces territory. However, Mozart ,under the hands of Phillip Leslie, is Mozart as you have never quite heard him before. Like a handful of other great pianists, Leslie makes you hear the eternity and the modernity in everything he plays. This Mozart, far from sounding baroque, sounded quirky and intangible, fast and furious or slow and lyrical, and rendered us unusually aware of its adventurous harmonic leaps and pauses.
Full of drama, love, and passion, the second piece by Schumann is clearly a favourite of Leslie’s. We experienced in the three movements a splendid, dramatic rendering, the pianist expounding the glorious contrast between the romance and the tragedy, the gravity and the passion, the ultimate peace. Full of angels and demons, and again, an individual interpretation which perhaps illuminated the character of Schumann, whose own long anguished quest for inner peace finished tragically in a sanatorium at the age of just 46.
Mussorgsky’s Pictures At An Exhibition, apart from numerous orchestral adaptations,has frequently made it into unexpected genre territory: Ralph Burns arranged it for jazz orchestra, a whole album by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, was devoted to it, and it somehow became audible in the middle of a Michael Jackson rock medley. Tangerine Dream recorded the Promenade in 1994; Segovia arranged The Old Castle picture for classical guitar. It’s therefore a composition that absolutely lends itself to genre crossover.
This afternoon, however, we were treated to the original piano solo work. If Leslie’s playing is augmented by his own clear mental vision, in Pictures this is obviously already written into the score, so it seemed a natural choice for his interpretative style. I was moved to tears as each painting – The Gnome, The Old Castle, The Unhatched Chicks, and so on – was musically realised, with the promenades in between, and the final walking out into the open. Leslie is master of the expressive musical pause, so particularly important to the sense, drama and continuity of this well-known and brilliant suite. All together an exceptional recital, by an exceptional musician.
There will always be more musical events in this town than I have space to write up in this fortnightly, and it is a privilege to be able to see so much exceptional talent in a relatively small space. The eclecticism of its musical output echoes the eclecticism of the local residents, and I for one can be thankful that I live here.
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