MATTHEW KAM  3 October 2009
  International pianist Matthew Kam, a rising star in the classical music world, opened Rochdale Music Society’s new season in style.
  Born in Borneo but brought up in Australia from the age of 11, Matthew Kam graduated from Melbourne University in 2005 by which time he had won several prizes and achieved international notice. He then moved to the UK’s RNCM becoming a Junior Fellow from 2007-9, continuing to attract acclaim.
  His opening work was, unusually, by a living composer: Carl Vine’s Piano Sonata (1990) is a brilliant piece of piano theatre, full of energy and references to jazz and popular music styles combined with pure percussion, even extending to a forearm smash! This could have been an inaccessible modern experiment but Kam’s skill, control and communication proved just how fresh fruit on the Vine can be.
Sonata No 3 in B minor Op 38 by Chopin brought us back to the nineteenth century tradition and demonstrated why this player has become so highly regarded.
  After the interval we continued in Romantic mode with Prelude and Fugue in E minor Op 35 No 1 by Mendelssohn, atmospheric impressions of Oiseaux tristes by Ravel and Three concert pieces by Faure, which are heard played live all too rarely. A further vignette by Faure served as a delightful and thoroughly deserved encore.  The music sounded all the better because of the Steinway grand piano specially hired for the occasion.
  Rochdale Music Society exists to bring live music from first class performers to the borough. It needs your support to continue to do so. This season promises to be stimulating, with the Plane Dukes Rahman Trio 5 December, and in the New Year Eclipse, soloists from Chetham’s, the Stanford String Quartet, plus saxophone and guitar music, all at Heywood Civic Centre.

THE WAKEFORD TRIO  21 March 2009

  Rochdale Music Society has had several successful concerts at Heywood Civic Centre and Rochdale Town Hall since leaving the Gracie Fields Theatre – its debut at St Andrew’s Church Hall in Rochdale was another. Ideal for chamber music, as it has proved with Northern Baroque Orchestra concerts over the years, St Andrew’s can now also boast excellent refreshment facilities.

  This was a superb acoustic for The Wakeford Trio consisting of Lucy Wakeford harp, Michael Cox flute, and Fiona Bonds viola – an instrumental combination made in heaven with the players to match. The ensemble opened with a delightful arrangement of a Telemann trio sonata followed by a dazzling JS Bach duet for flute and harp. The substitution of harp for harpsichord brought a glorious new dimension to the Baroque style - if the modern flute sometimes dominated more than the original recorder.

  The first half concluded with Debussy’s original sonata for this genre is a late work that not only utilises the instruments superbly but is full of subdued anguish with brilliant contrasts.

  The second half (after a half hour break!) began with the Japanese composer Takemitsu’s homage to the Debussy trio; followed by a work by British composer William Alwyn for flute and harp which was given a worthwhile airing.

  The trio’s finale was a masterful performance of an arrangement of Ravel’s Sonatine, originally for piano. 

  This concert was sponsored by Mrs Brenda Mallinson in memory of her late husband Dr Ralph Mallinson who was a devoted amateur violinist and music enthusiast who would have loved this performance. 

The Scott Brothers Piano Duo

Heywood Civic Centre Sat 21 Feb 09 

Manchester-born brothers Jonathan and Tom Scott studied at Chethams School of Music and the RNCM, and are both in the front rank of a rising generation of piano virtuosi. To have two such artistes for the price of one was a great bargain indeed, with the added value of their almost telepathic communication.

   As they said in their genial and informative introductions there is an enormous repertoire for piano duet either specially written or arrangements of other works. Four hands on one piano give a tremendous range of possibilities particularly on the superb Steinway concert grand procured for the evening. Gottschalk’s arrangement of Rossini’s William Tell Overture and Ravel’s original Mother Goose Suite were textbook demonstrations of the genre’s potential. An arrangement of Dukas’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice brought back all the colours and energy of the orchestration and the celebrated Disney animation.

   Dvorak’s original piano duet Slavonic Dance No 1 Opus 46 was a superb curtain raiser to the second half and Reger’s arrangement of JS Bach’s organ prelude and fugue BWV 543 added new dimensions to a great work and drew the biggest applause of the night. An arrangement of Danse Macabre by Saint-Seans and Ligeti’s original Sonatina (1950) lead to a magnificent piece de resistance: Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 in C# minor.

   As an encore, The Flight of the Bumble Bee by Rimsky-Korsakov lasted incredibly just less than a minute, which encapsulated for many this brilliant but all too brief encounter with the world of the piano duet.