1 December 2007 at 7.30pm

Freddy Kempf (piano)

Conductor: Brian Wright

Brahms – Piano Concerto No.2

Bruckner – Symphony No.6

 No starter required

EVEN the most dedicated trencherman may concede you don’t always need a starter with two substantial courses and this concert proved the point.

Both Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6 run to 50 minutes or so each and provided a true test of this splendid orchestra. The players were not found wanting.

Soloist for the Brahms was Freddy Kempf, every bit as entertaining to watch as to listen to. If Radu Lupu resembled a man clinging on to the piano like a ledge, Mr Kempf treated the keyboard as if electricity was running through it.  In a musical sense, of course, it was.

The piece, really a symphony rather than a concerto with its four movements, also gave ample opportunity to the accomplished cellos and horns.

Bruckner’s work undoubtedly bears the influence of Beethoven and Wagner but it has its own characteristics; a mix of lyricism, almost jokey stop-start sections and unexpectedly abrupt endings.

The audience voted with their feet, not in the negative sense but by drumming them on the floor at the end of each piece from another memorable evening. Need we say more?

Alan Bennett - Downs Mail

Click here to listen to a clip.

“The meteoric success of pianist Freddy Kempf makes it is easy to forget he is in his mid-20s. If it is true that an artist's finest years come with age, then the mind boggles at the possibilities.” The Guardian, July 2003