Michael Reckord, Contributor
IN THE end, the audience wouldn't let him go. But this was only one of several varied actions taken by those attending the recital by the internationally acclaimed Guyanese pianist Ray Luck at the School of Music auditorium, Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, Arthur Wint Drive, St. Andrew, on Sunday evening.
The other actions were not so complimentary.
For one, a score of persons arrived late, some only minutes late, but the concert started on time and the door was locked on the tardy. They had to wait 20-plus minutes for the entire opening number, Bach's Partita No. 1 in B Flat, with its several movements, to end before they could get in.
Then, at the intermission, one audience member, a professional pianist himself, stormed off in a huff, declaring loudly that he hadn't come to hear "any morgue music". The opening items were too funereal-like for his liking, he claimed.
SOMBRE TITLES
One could understand his complaint, as it related to the second item. The mood of the three movements of the Enrique Granados composition, part of his suite Goyescas (based on the etchings of the 18th century Spanish artist Francisco de Goya), reflected their sombre titles - Laments, Love and Death and Serenade of the Spectre. Whether you liked the dark mood of the work or not, however, there was no denying that Luck's masterful, sensitive playing conveyed that feeling.
I was particularly intrigued by the tension created in the final movement by the solemn notes and chords of the left hand, as opposed to the lighter ones of the right. This tension is suggested by the near-oxymoronic title; 'serenade' and 'spectre' suggest opposite moods.
The unusual audience behaviour continued when the recital resumed after the break. The opening item was Jamaican pianist-composer Oswald Russell's Three Jamaican Dances and there were pleased chuckles of recognition at the folk tunes Russell transformed into the 'classical' genre. Nevertheless, a number of persons left right after. Apparently they were particularly interested in Luck's interpretation of that piece. It was intriguing to hear Sammy Dead and Ruckumbine played seriously, by a master pianist, on a grand piano; intriguing and delightful.
Chopin's Sonata in B Minor, Op. 85 followed. This beautiful, varied work (the four movements are quite distinctive) was for me the highlight of the evening and it was supposed to end the concert. It got enthusiastic applause and Luck, returning for his third bow, commented "you obviously love Chopin" and proceeded to deliver a 'brawta' in the form of Chopin's popular, sublime Nocturne.
The applause which it received elicited a second extra piece, a brief flamenco-flavoured item by Spanish composer Manuel de Falla. Declaring "you have been such a wonderful audience", Luck followed it with a third, brief, simple number, Piano Lesson by Charles Koechlin, a French composer.
As it ended the audience, apparently now satisfied, started leaving, but many headed backstage to express their thanks for a wonderful evening.
The recital was the kick-off to the week-long Classical Music Festival competition organised every two years by the Jamaica Music Teachers Association. Professor Luck, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Music Emeritus at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, is the adjudicator for this year's competition, which ends today with the winners performing.
