Opening concert: Tabea Streicher

The 81st season at Haywards Heath Music Society began with a truly remarkable piano recital given by Tabea Streicher. Tabea has just celebrated her eighteenth birthday but she has been winning international competitions since she was twelve! On this occasion she came to us as the winner of the piano section of the recent Tunbridge Wells International Music Competition where she competed against much older entrants from all over the world. My husband and I were privileged to hear her performance at the final of Liszt's Mephisto Waltz which is one of the great war horses of the piano repertoire. So we knew her concert for us would be truly memorable.

Tabea chose a programme which paid homage to her German and Hungarian heritage. In the first half we were treated to two Beethoven sonatas which between them ran the gamut of all the emotions. Tabea showed great insight into the music and its structure and delivered commanding performances.

After the interval we moved to Hungary. Perhaps it was appropriate that music by Liszt was to be played on a Broadwood grand piano dating from the 1880s which was certainly in existence in Liszt's lifetime. But first we had two works by Bela Bartok written between 1910 and 1926. Bartok was associated with folk dance and song at the time and Tabea captured the joyous, exuberant melodies and rhythms of the Two Romanian dances. Bartok's Piano Sonata is a dissonant work with pulsating rhythms and chords which showed Tabea's excellent sense of touch. And so to the final work, the very dramatic, majestic and virtuoso Fantasy and Fugue on the theme B A C H. Liszt was himself a virtuoso pianist and Tabea's performance did not disappoint. Her fingers flew over the keys producing great showers of notes. This sensational performance with all its dramatic contrasts held the audience in rapt attention.

Look out for Tabea's name, she is a star in the making!

2nd Concert: The Mithras Trio

Haywards Heath Music Society was delighted to welcome the Mithras Trio; Ionel Manclu (violin), Leo Popplewell (cello) and Dominic Degavino (piano) to play for us.

The Trio gave us a wonderful concert online during the pandemic and we eagerly anticipated their return visit to play for us live at St Wilfrid's Church. The Trio were recently selected as BBC New Generation artists so listen out for performances by them on the radio.

The programme began with Piano Trio in G major K564 by Mozart. It has been said that chamber music is the music of friends and this was evident immediately with the impeccable ensemble playing, perfect balance and elegant, refined style which the artists brought to this, the final work Mozart wrote for the piano trio combination.

A great contrast was evident in the next work, Phantasie for Piano Trio H.79 by Frank Bridge. Here the many changes of mood were perfectly caught. The beauty of the sound and wonderful melodies delighted the audience. Everyone felt this was music which deserved to be far better known.

The final piece, Piano Trio in A Minor Op.50 by Tchaikovsky was a tour de force. There are not enough superlatives to describe the performance we were privileged to hear. The music takes you on a long journey and, as Ionel said in his introduction, the piece runs the whole gamut of emotions. This is full blooded Romantic music and it was played with great power and passion. This was an evening which will be long remembered.

"The best ever" was heard repeatedly as people left! We wish supremely talented Mithras Trio every success for the future and hope they will pay us a return visit!

4th Concert: Mathilde Milwidsky (violin) and Annie Yim (piano)

On February 18th 2023 Haywards Heath Music Society welcomed Mathilde Milwidsky (violin) and Annie Yim (piano) as part of the 81st season of International concerts. Mathilde and Annie came to us courtesy of the prestigious Countess of Munster Recital scheme which sponsors outstanding young musicians.

Mathilde has had a glittering career already from being the highest achieving graduate at the Royal Academy of Music in 2017 to being the only British violinist chosen for the Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition in Brussels. Mathilde has performed all over the world and her wonderful accompanist, Annie Yim, a Hong Kong born Canadian concert pianist, has an equally impressive CV.

The pieces chosen for the recital proved very popular with the audience. The first half featured Ravel and Debussy with two exquisite works full of beautiful melodies by Lili Boulanger. Both artists demonstrated a formidable technique, impeccable ensemble and musicianship.

The second half started with the elegant, joyful violin sonata K301 by Mozart, one of the first works in which both instruments were given equal prominence. After a journey forward in time to Bartok's Folk Dances which were played with energy and panache, then into the c20 with Arvo Part's mesmerising set of variations Fratres, Mathilde and Annie arrived at what was very likely the highlight of the evening - the Tzigane by Ravel. This is one of the great virtuoso works for the violin and the audience was held spellbound by the sheer brilliance of performance and mastery of the immense technical challenges. The audience erupted with rapturous applause for these two superbly talented musicians who had given a truly memorable recital. We hope to see both artists again!

5th Concert: Ryan Drucker (piano)

We were delighted to welcome back Ryan who first came to play for us in 2018 shortly after winning the piano section of the Tunbridge Wells International music competition.

He started his recital with Robert Schumann's Papillons Opus 2, composed at the age of 20, and one of Schumann's most poetic and romantic works for piano. The twelve pieces in the collection are dances in a variety of moods - waltzes and polonaises - some tender and reflective, others fiery and passionate.
You could picture the jolly scene. Ryan's demonstrative playing faded into fluttering light passages, and he brilliantly captured the impulsively changing moods of this music. He brought a depth and beauty to what would otherwise seem like a light-hearted piece of music.

Next, we heard three songs by Schubert and one by Schumann which were transcribed by Liszt. The first - 'Liebesbotschaft' (Message of Love) - from Schubert's song cycle Schwanengesang was a stormy rendering with rolling arpeggios taken at a brisk pace.
The third Schubert song 'Auf dem Wasser Zu Singen' (To sing on the water) saw the piano seek calmer waters before Ryan played the last piece before the Interval 'Widmung' (Dedication) by Schumann, again transcribed by Liszt. This was a beautiful love song to Clara, his wife, given to her on the eve of their wedding in 1840. Ryan alternated between dramatic and forceful to poignant and yearning in his sensitive interpretation of this glorious, almost Chopinesque, piece.

The spirit of Franz Liszt permeated all the works that Ryan brought to this recital for, after the interval, he played more dances – these were by the Hungarian Ernst von Dohnanyi (1877-1960) - a direct successor of Liszt and a formidable pianist and composer in his own time.

The wind of proud Romanticism blew through these 'Winterreigen' ( Winter Dances), ten bagatelles written in 1905, starting with the soft lyrical Widmung, then a sturdy march followed by a mazurka, a tremulous music of the spheres 'Spharenmusik' where Ryan hopped octaves down the keyboard; then a gentler waltz before he breasted the last three pieces that varied between the sombre measured tempi of 'Morgengrauen' and ending with a rolling, expansive coda that was 'Postludium.

Ryan enthusiastically introduced and explained why each composer wrote their pieces and what influenced them, as many of these works were unfamiliar to us. None more so than the last in his programme 'Kunsterleben' (An Artist's Life), a virtuoso work by the Lithuanian American pianist and composer, Leopold Godowsky (1870 – 1938) who transcribed this Strauss Junior piece into a rumbustious work containing waltz rhythms and a very recognisable theme tune, rapturous at times, before Ryan brought things to a close in a cascading crescendo of chords which resonated beautifully through our venerable Broadwood piano. The Abbé Liszt would have been proud!

We were thrilled by Ryan's performance and clapped long and hard at the end showing our appreciation for his unusual and inspired choice of programme.

6th concert: Lawrence Olsworth-Peter and Lucy Cronin

Haywards Heath Music Society brought its 2022/23 season to a close with a concert by Lawrence Olsworth-Peter (tenor) and Lucy Cronin (soprano) with Gregory Drott at the piano. Billed as 'The Lighter Side', this very varied programme began with Comedy Tonight (from Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), and ended with Tonight (from Bernstein & Sondheim's West Side Story).

Along the way we were treated to Largo al Factotum (from The Barber of Seville,) Maria (from West Side Story,) Lonely Town (from On the Town,) You'll be Back (from Hamilton), If I Loved You (from Carousel), Cleopatra (from Salad Days), A Word On My Ear (Flanders & Swann), You're Just in Love (from Call Me Madam), and I Could Have Danced All Night (from My Fair Lady) plus many others including gems from Die Fledermaus and The Mikado. The concert ended with tumultuous applause, which finally brought an encore - Come What May (from the film Moulin Rouge).

Lawrence is now the consummate professional - a fine singer, actor, and comedian - polished and at ease in everything he does. Lucy, beautifully gowned and groomed, had the style and vocal technique to match him all the way, and accompanist Gregory Drott completed this outstanding trio. All three took turns to address the audience in amusing and informative chats.

This was an overdue return visit from the two singers, who delighted us with a very different programme back in 2018. They have a large repertoire, and judging from this audience's enthusiastic response, a further return visit would be more than welcome.