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UNCOMMON JOY
Florian Mitrea at London's St Martin-in-the-Fields,
heard by MALCOLM TROUP
When I arrived, well before time, to my surprise the nave was completely full but for some reserved seats in front. London's regular army of music lovers had been reinforced by the last contingents of overseas tourists eager to pay homage as much to the venerable architecture of Her Majesty's parish-church as to the strains of St Cecilia. On the one side sat the supporters of the man of the moment -- Romanian pianist Florian Mitrea -- anxious as to how their hero might acquit himself after the ten months since he had carried off the coveted First Prize in the Beethoven Intercollegiate Piano Competition; on the other, the Master of the Worshipful Company of Musicians Paul Campion along with his retinue, clutching the Company's prestigious Beethoven Medal which he would be presenting at the close of the proceedings -- all contributing to the general air of expectancy. Then in came the diminutive lady-verger to admonish us to turn off our mobiles and, it being a lunchtime recital, to exit if need be only between items...
Copyright © 29 September 2011 Malcolm Troup,
London UK
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