A near-capacity audience in the Glenroy Auditorium stamped their delight for celebrated pianist Piers Lane’s performance of Chopin Nocturnes on Thursday night.
Piers Lane has a delightfully light touch, brilliantly achieving the nuances of a now stereotypically Romantic idiom which has held its value and relevancy over the centuries.
Piers Lane’s commitment to them is evident in the attention placed on every note and phrase.
Though lax pedalling detracted from the effect of final cadences, the overall impact of his technique was magical.
The programme of 20 Nocturnes opened with two posthumously published works the C minor (1837) and his earliest Nocturne, the E minor, composed when he was 19 (1829).
The programme was rounded off with Chopin’s final Nocturne Op. 62 in E major.
The progression over Chopin’s short and tragic life experience (1810-49) is intriguing.
The earliest has, as might be expected, a sweet understanding of life’s complexities informed in part by the mounting political pressures which led to The November Insurrection of 1830, after which Chopin became something of an exile in the rich cultural milieux of Vienna.
The C minor Nocturne bears what became his signature wide-ranging arpeggiated base line and wistfully delicacy melodies.
Op. 48 No 1 and No 2 of 1841 show more emotional strength with rapidly repeated angry octave chords in both hands.
The final Nocturnes, Op. 62, explore his earliest sonority but with more emotional conviction. Op. 62 No 1 in B major echoes his first work with single eminently singalong melodies, wide-ranging virtuosic outbursts and trills intensifying the anxiety and the beauty.
Op. 62 No 2 in E major allows itself some outrage before its ultimate resolution.
Piers Lane generously gave an encore of Chopin’s lilting Waltz in C# minor. The audience left the venue with smiles on all their faces.
Review by Marian Poole
