Review: David Christopherson - Reid Concert Hall, Edinburgh

By CAROL MAIN
Published on Tuesday 14 February 2012 00:00

IT IS a pity that it is so difficult for visiting artists to market self-promoted concerts in Edinburgh out of the August festival season.

Despite best efforts, Norwegian-born pianist David Christopherson’s audience comprised only a small handful of people at Edinburgh University’s Reid Hall on Saturday night.

In the second of three programmes – the next is on 10 March – each featuring one of Prokofiev’s War Sonatas, Christopherson played the Sonata No 7, composed between 1939 and 1942, alongside complementary pieces by Kabalevsky, Debussy and Poul Ruders. It was a thoughtfully constructed selection and equally thoughtfully performed.

Christopherson, now based in Cambridge, is a technically assured pianist. Debussy’s Etudes from his first book of piano studies, were considered and carefully crafted, but missed out on sparkle in Christophersen’s reading of them.

Similarly, Poul Ruders’s fascinating and moving Three Letters from the Unknown Soldier and Kabalevsky’s delightful Op 13 Sonatina lacked spontaneity of expression. Not until the main feature, the Prokofiev, did Christopherson’s potency come into its own. Here, he had something to say about the music which made emotional connection with the audience. The brittle playing of the first movement was exactly right for Prokofiev’s response to the world conflict around him at the time. In the second, its beautiful, song-like opening theme developed into a passionate outpouring, with tolling bells never far away. An edgy and restless toccata to close reaffirmed this Sonata as one of the best of the 20th century.

Rating: ***

Logged in as:

Comment here. Start typing your comment here:

Post comment

Please adhere to our Community guidelines

Your view

Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.