No place like home for soloist Margaret Fingerhut
By Richard Yates, Evening Chronicle
MEMORIES of home have inspired many great works by classical composers and a piano recital next week will help to open up the musical world of many fondly remembered times and places.
Margaret Fingerhut, next Tuesday’s guest of the Sunderland Pianoforte Society in the Pottery Room of the city’s Museum & Winter Gardens, has a fine reputation for combining popular favourites with less familiar pieces in her recitals.
She has long been interested in linking piano works to particular themes, and one of a dozen programmes she’s devised this season – From My Home, in which she explores the highways and byways of the repertoire – is her choice for this recital, which starts at 7.15pm.
Margaret Fingerhut is one of the Sunderland society’s favourites. As a concert soloist she has performed with many of Britain’s leading orchestras, is often heard on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM, and gives masterclasses at colleges and schools throughout Europe. She has also served as an adjudicator for the BBC Young Musician of the Year competitions.
Her recordings for the Chandos label have won world acclaim, and her latest CD, of solo pieces by Polish-French composer Aleksander Tansman, has just scooped France’s top award, the Diapason D’Or.
On Tuesday, Margaret begins her expedition with Tchaikovsky’s Dumka, an 1886 piece based on the Slavonic folk ballad form, before embarking on a lengthier journey with Chopin – playing the Polonaise in A major, Op.40, No.1; the Mazurka Op.50, No.3; and the Polonaise- Fantaisie, Op.61.
Janacek is the next stop – the Piano Sonata 1.X.1905 – followed by Three London Pieces by John Ireland, three of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces, and crossing continents for the exciting rhythms of Ginastera’s Danzas Argentinas as the recital’s finale.
Admission on the door is £10, for full- time students and the unwaged it’s £3, and accompanied children aged 16 and below can enjoy the music free.
CLASSICAL LISTINGS for week from 5/2/10
TONIGHT 5/2
GATESHEAD: Hall One, The Sage, 7.30, Northern Sinfonia, conductor Garry Walker, perform Sibelius’s Pélleas et Mélisande Suite; Schumann’s Cello Concerto, soloist Guy Johnston; Mozart’s Symphony No.41, Jupiter. Tickets: £7-£29.50, tel (0191) 443 4661. Pre-concert talk at 6.30 free to ticket holders.
SUNDAY 7/2
GATESHEAD: Hall One, The Sage, 2pm, Massed Brass Bands, popular classics and showpieces with the Hepworth, Harrogate and GT Group Bands. Tickets: £7 & £14, tel (0191) 443 4661.
TUESDAY 9/2
SUNDERLAND: Museum & Winter Gardens, Burdon Road, 7.15pm, pianist Margaret Fingerhut plays works by Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Janacek, Grieg and Ginastera. Admission: £10, concessions available, 16s and under free.
WEDNESDAY 10/2
GATESHEAD: The Dryden Centre, Evistones Road, Low Fell, 10am-5pm, Music Celebration Day for the family with The Avison Ensemble. Concerts, workshops and chance to try out instruments. Free admission.
Hall One, The Sage, 7.30pm, Classic FM concert, Northern Sinfonia, conductor Ewa Strusinska, perform Mendelssohn’s Fingal’s Cave Overture; Bruch’s Violin Concerto No.1, soloist Jennifer Pike; Beethoven’s Symphony No.5. Tickets: £7-£25, tel (0191) 443 4661.
NEXT FRIDAY 12/2
HEXHAM: Queen’s Hall, Beaumont Street, 7.45pm, violinist Soojin Han and pianist Mariangela Vacatello perform sonatas by Beethoven, Ravel and Prokofiev. Tickets: £12, NUS £6, schoolchildren £1, tel (01434) 652477.
GATESHEAD: Hall Two, The Sage, 8pm, piano duo Melvyn Tan and Ronald Brautigam play Saint-Saens’ Variations on a Theme by Beethoven; Debussy’s En Blanc et Noir; Lutoslawski’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini, and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Tickets: £7-£20.50, tel (0191) 443 4661.
