Splendid music for too few listeners

Press, 8 July 1976, Page 6

Splendid music for too few listeners

John Luxton, pianist, and Heather Taylor, soprano, accompanied by Rosemary Miller Stott, gave a recital yesterday afternoon in the C.S.A. Gallery. It was a pity that such splendid music was heard by so few people, but those present were well rewarded for attending on such a cold, wet day. Mrs Taylor began with four arias by Vivaldi, an unfailingly popular composer, whose music, mostly lively and joyful, and always beautifully moulded, suits her voice splendidly. She brought the songs warmly alive with stylish tone and with good clarity of line. John Luxton then played Four Stabiles by Jack Body, works sounding at first dismembered, and did so with admirably clear texture and vivacious rhythm. He has admirable flair for playing works which rely so strongly on contrast in colour in

strange and shifting sonorities and tonalities. Heather Taylor sang three songs by Haydn, beginning with “The Mermaid’s Song,” a beguiling little work, supple and fresh, “She Never Told Her Love” was sung with poignancy and with movingly beautiful pathos. She gave charming lilt to “My Mother Bids Me Bind My Hair,” singing with lovely tone and excellent clarity. John Luxton further showed his affinity with contemporary music in “Six Little Pieces for Piano” by Schoenberg. He used the greatest care and imagination to produce the exact shadings required for this elusive music and showed astonishing control over a not very responsive instrument. These are charming little pieces, shedding a delicate and luminous beauty. Rosemary Miller Stott played the accompaniments in exemplary style. —C. Foster Browne