Lovely article from the Daily Telegraph about Tait Awardee, Jayson Gillham, and a stunning review for his City Recital Hall concert in Sydney on the 24th October. His tour now continues to Adelaide with the Adelaide Symphony and then ends with a sold-out recital at the Melbourne Recital Centre.
CHILDHOOD piano lessons for brilliant young virtuoso Jayson Gillham’s meant a 500km round car trip with his mum from his home in Dalby, Queensland. All those miles and effort paid off when, at the age of 17, he reached the semi-finals of the gruelling Sydney International Piano Competition. A scholarship and move to London, where he is now based, added further polish and eventually led to a Masters degree at the Royal Academy of Music. Now he is back on home ground after a much-acclaimed Sydney Symphony debut earlier this month performing Beethoven’s Piano concerto No. 4 with piano great Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting. And, as part of that triumphal tour, Gillham played a program of Bach, Handel, Beethoven and Schumann in the latest of the SSO’s International Pianists In Recital series. He opened with what he describes as a “here I am” piece in Bach’s Toccata and fugue in C minor BWV 911, which incidentally opens his newly-released debut recording for ABC Classics.
DAZZLING
The work, with its deft interplay between left and right hand, showed off Gillham’s grace and elegance, as well as a dazzling and smoothly-controlled technique. His articulation and accuracy in both hands, complemented by astute use of the sustain pedal, meant that all the “voices” of the double fugue came through with crystal clarity. The prodigious variations in Handel’s Chaconne in G indulged Gillham’s flashier side, albeit seasoned with great taste, sensitivity and judgment. This was a reading carved not of granite, but more one of polished marble Beethoven considered Handel the greatest composer of them all so the eight-minute set of variations made an apt curtain-raiser to the final piece of the first half, the Waldstein sonata. Here the 30-year-old soloist forsook blood and guts for a more refined approach to Beethoven and at times the rondo finale was a little rushed.
This was a reading carved not of granite, but more one of polished marble.
Jayson Gillham performs Chopin.
The second half was all Romance with Schumann’s lengthy piano workout, the Etudes symphoniques, which complete with the five posthumous variations clocks in at 37 minutes. This listener would have preferred the Schubert sonata Gillham performs on his new CD! As if this set of 12 variations wasn’t enough to convince the audience of Gillham’s prowess, the encores were. Liszt’s Paraphrase on Verdi’s Rigoletto quartet is a favourite showstopper, but Gillham had more. The evening started with and ended with Bach, albeit Rachmaninoff’s spectacular transcription of the violin partita No.3. If, like Bach, Gillham wanted to announce “Here I am!”, we all certainly got the message loud and clear.
DETAILS
Steve Moffatt, NewsLocalOctober 25, 2016 8:07am
October 25, 2016 8:07am
●CONCERT: Jayson Gillham in recital
●WHERE: City Recital Hall Angel Place
●WHEN: Monday, October 24
Source: Jayson Gillham shows why he has the world at his fingertips | News Local
