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Musical Values
Lara Downes plays Coleridge-Taylor, Chopin,
Bloch, Bernstein transcriptions and Gershwin,
heard by MIKE WHEELER
Prevented by a blizzard from flying in from New York two years ago, American pianist Lara Downes finally made it over to Nottingham to launch the new Sunday morning piano recital series at the Royal Concert Hall (Nottingham, UK, 22 October 2017). She began with 'Deep River', the tenth of Coleridge-Taylor's 24 Negro Melodies, Op 59 No 1, pointing up both the imagination and the dignity with which he treats the tune. Fully realising his stated intention of doing for these melodies what Brahms, Dvořák and Grieg had done for their respective folk repertoires, all twenty-four deserve to be heard more often...
Copyright © 3 November 2017
Mike Wheeler,
Derby UK
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