Michael Callaghan on South Holland Concerts latest offering
South Holland Concerts provided an appreciative audience on Saturday with a memorable piano recital by John Paul Ekins.
This was a London quality performance; how disappointing for the absentee patrons to have missed this once-in-a-lifetime concert.
From the forward thinking and adventurous Mozart Fantasy, the delightfully sensitive Schubert Impromptu, the homage to Britten’s transcendental Holiday Diary, the masterful but moving, Liszt Cantique d’amour, through the brooding Brahms Intermezzi, to the monumental Beethoven Waldstein sonata.
What a gamut of emotions moved the audience, which consisted of a range of ages.
Musicianship of this quality is rarely heard in Spalding and it was embellished by a highly professional introduction to each item by the likeable and fluent artist.
The only criticism was that he could not play for another hour or two, or three... this audience would not have been sated.