Musical Opinion, Paul Conway

Tim Horton’s afternoon recital at St Andrew’s featured the premiere of Deri Joseph Lewis’ An die Musik, a joint commission from the Presteigne Festival and the Royal Philharmonic Society. Fastidiously played, this was an intense, rhythmic étude, in which sporadic secondary motifs and pulses never deflected persistent, repeated quavers from their purpose. Helen Grime’s 10 Miniatures (2009) were presented with aplomb, each tiny character study fleshed out and sharply delineated. In its original form, Eleanor Alberga’s Oh Chaconne! (2018) acted a prelude to Busoni’s transcription for piano of the Chaconne from Bach’s Partita No 2 for solo violin. The composer’s reworking of the music into a concert piece retained strong links to its source material, while sounding entirely characteristic of her own style, in its urgently rhythmic energy and freely lyrical spirit. Tim Horton showed a keen grasp of the score’s resolute individuality.

“Wonderfully cogent readings of Nos 1 and 15 of Shostakovich’s Preludes and Fugues, Op 87 and Chopin’s Piano Sonata No 3, the latter given entirely from memory, provided an impressive framework for a splendid recital, in which sensitivity and insight were fruitfully balanced with formidable technique.”