Debussy to savour

MALCOLM MILLER admires Valerie Tryon in recital

Style, poise, virtuosity and nuance were some of the qualities that enthralled a sizeable audience at Croydon's Fairfield Hall in the UK, at a lunchtime recital by the British pianist Valerie Tryon on Tuesday 6 December 2005 -- a treat for admirers of pianistic prowess.

Based in Hamilton, Ontario, where she is Artist-in-Residence at McMaster University, Valerie Tryon frequently returns to England to perform at the Fairfield Hall and other UK venues; a visit last year featured her stunning account of Chopin's Piano Concerto No 1 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and this visit also included a performance of Bartók's 3rd Piano Concerto in Hampshire.

Her choice of programme on this occasion focused on some exquisite less often played works, opening with a sparkling account of Haydn's Fantasia in C, H XV11:4. This is a work which abounds in felicitous surprises, such as rising semitone modulations -- clearly influential on the young Beethoven, and richly textured sequential developments, briskly and crisply articulated, and always secondary to the main theme's bubbly momentum.

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