CONSUMMATE ELEGANCE

MIKE WHEELER listens to Sarah Beth Briggs

Thanks to transport problems I missed the Scarlatti sonata that opened Sarah Beth Briggs' piano recital (Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, UK, 26 January, 2014), and arrived as she was giving a pre-performance demonstration of how the slow movement of Beethoven's 'Pathétique' Sonata both borrowed from Mozart and lent to Brahms. Her account of the work focussed much of its controlled vehemence in the first movement, followed by a thoughtful, mostly straightforward account of the second movement. Though the finale was far from lightweight, her performance kept the work's centre of gravity firmly in the opening movement...

DOMENICO SCARLATTI

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

BENJAMIN BRITTEN

FRYDERYCK CHOPIN

CLAUDE DEBUSSY

NOTTINGHAM ROYAL CONCERT HALL

NOTTINGHAM

UNITED KINGDOM

PIANO MUSIC