Concert Review by Peter Dawson

SeatonMusic were treated to a dazzling performance by Leon McCawley, artist-in-residence at London's Wigmore Hall and Professor of Piano at the Royal College of Music, for its final concert of the season.

The concert was enjoyed by a large number of members and friends at The Gateway.

Leon's programme consisted of three works, all written when their composers were at the height of their creative powers.

Haydn's Variations in F minor, completed when the composer was in his sixties, shows all his inventiveness and energy, contrasting the poignant, sad sections in the minor with the brighter, playful major parts. Leon's attention to phrasing and dynamic detail gave us a spellbinding performance.

Mozart's Sonata K. 533 deserves to be played more often, Leon said. After the opening statements of the first movement, the conversation between the left and right hands, the increase in complexity of the development of the theme and constant unexpected turns made for a dazzling performance.

The beautiful lyrical second movement and the unusual harmonic developments in the third movement required virtuosic treatment, and it was evident.

After the interval, Schubert's last piano work, the Sonata in B flat, written when he was only half Haydn's age, was full of emotion, full of uncertainty, full of melody, full of drama and again showed why Leon is a performer in demand with major orchestras throughout Europe.

The enthusiastic audience demanded and encore, and Leon obliged with Mendelssohn's Song Without Words op. 30 no.1. What a joy to hear such a performance in Seaton – a joy not many small towns can offer!

The next SeatonMusic season – the 72nd - starts on Thursday, October 20 at The Gateway, when Leo Popplewell (cello) and Antonine Suahonova (piano ) will play works by Beethoven, Schumann, Debussy and Rachmaninov.

Membership gives admission to all six concerts in the season for only £90. Tickets for individual concerts are £17. Details at www.seatonmusic.org