Clare Hammond at St Georges - Live Music Review
Posted on: 2016-04-20
Our rating:
Clare Hammond's accomplished performances of everything on the program was utterly exhilarating, demonstrating a musician in total control of her instrument and her craft.
Acclaimed pianist Clare Hammond enraptured the St George's lunchtime audience with a stunning sixty minute set when she played a ravishing repertoire of compositions at the Bristol music venue on Thursday 14 April 2016.
The pianist has already made a name for herself in the music world with a string of prestigious accolades, performances and awards including playing at the Barbican Hall, various festivals across Europe, and a busy 2016 calendar which takes in a concert tour of Poland and her debut at Royal Festival Hall. A vociferous advocate of contemporary music and composers, her recent album Etude has been lavished with serious critical and public praise as well as being selected as Critic's Choice for 2015 in the American Record Guide. In May she'll release her third disc with solo piano music by Ken Hesketh.
Her considerable talents haven't been purely restricted behind the piano either, having made her film debut as the younger version of Maggie Smith's character in last year's film adaption of Alan Bennett's The Lady in the Van.
Hammond's performance at St George's - part of its regular Lunchtime Concert series - was an hour of pure, indulgent pianistic bliss with three pieces that were as thrilling as they were utterly sublime.
Beethoven's Sonata No 8 in C Minor - otherwise known as the Pathetique - straddles the romantic and classical periods and was one of the most skilled and electrifying performances of the musical titan I've ever heard. From the funereal, sombre opening Grave movement to the spiky, animated Allegro, to the delicious melancholy of the dreamy, ethereal Adagio to, finally, the closing Rondo: Allegro, this was musicianship of the highest, most impeccable calibre. Adroitly performed and stunningly executed, this was all the passion, intensity, gutsiness and inimitable sonic richness of Beethoven's genius captured in a single, phenomenal performance.
A tough act to follow then, but follow it she did with a voyage into more contemporary classical waters with Thomas Ades' Mazurkas 1 and 3. More modern and off-kilter in approach, style and tone, it offered a refreshing contrast and aural alternative to the Beethovinian preceedings, playing with jaunty rhythms and sonic spectral shimmers brimming with subtle syncopations and a more ambient, dissonant, almost free-form improvisational easiness that unfolded with a listless, haunting mystery.
Nicolas Medtner's Sonata Romantica presented a ballsy and brilliant finale. One of Rachmaninov's favourite composers, Medtner's four movement firebrand was brimming with exciting musical bounty, a sublime lushness and an often relentless, impassioned yearning and romantic angst. Under Hammond's pre-eminent and masterful control, the piece was given the impeccable, solid treatment it deserved.
Clare Hammond's accomplished performances of everything on the program was utterly exhilarating, demonstrating a musician in total control of her instrument and her craft. Displaying seemingly effortless mastery of the dynamics and demands of each piece, it was truly one of the most enriching, inspiring, bold and moving sixty minutes in a concert hall I've experienced so far this year.
Unquestionably a rising musical star and a virtuoso pianist to keep a very close eye on before she inevitably hits the giddying heights of the music world's stratosphere. Unforgettably captivating and divine.
5/5
Jamie Caddick for 365Bristol.com - The leading Bristol events and entertainment website.
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Born and raised in the suburbs of Swansea, Jimmy moved to Bristol back in 2004 to attend university. Passionate about live music, sport, science and nature, he can usually be found walking his cocker spaniel Baxter at any number of green spots around the city. Call James on 078 9999 3534 or email Editor@365Bristol.com.
