Pascal Harris – Te Manawa Art Gallery Series.
Sunday, March 13.
Reviewed by STEPHEN FISHER.
Reviewed by STEPHEN FISHER.
While the Te Manawa series normally showcases local artists, occasionally regular concert-goers will have the pleasure of listening to a notable artist from outside our community.
Yesterday's concert was given by Pascall Harris, who performed solo piano works by Liszt and Schubert.
Harris has studied music at Otago University and the Royal College in London and he has an extraordinary sensitivity for music as he served these two composers with a great deal of empathy and respect.
Six movements from Liszt's Transcendental Etudes opened the programme. This work is an obvious showpiece but it provides tremendous emotional and technical challenges for the performer if the music is to be successfully conveyed to the audience.
Harris proved to be completely in control, presenting a performance that was full of virtuosic brilliance and emotional intensity as he drew out the enormous contrasts within the work.
Schubert's Piano Sonata No21 in Bb major closed the programme. A work of great beauty and, once more, a depth of emotional intensity.
With beautiful attention to detail, Harris shaped the work with great empathy for the composer's intentions.
The afternoon closed with a hauntingly beautiful delivery of Schubert's Impromptu in D flat, ensuring that this was certainly an afternoon to savour for the week to come.
