Review from the Canal St blog of my recital in Bridgewater Hall:
We had been told that Richard Uttley had given a compelling audition to the friends committee towards the end of last year and so there was no surprise that this young man opened his recital with a flawless performance of Bach’s Partita No 1. Perhaps all lunch time concerts should begin with Bach!!
The recital was built around dance and from Bach we moved seamlessly to 5 Chopin Mazurkas op7.
Each full of melody and charm, Richard displayed great skill in his interpretation without any flamboyance or histrionics!
3 of Debussy’s Image from book one followed and for me these were the highlight of the recital. Beautifully played rich in colour and touch. I hope we will get to hear him play more Debussy if he returns to the Bridgewater Hall as I’m sure he must.
Very cleverly Richard followed the Debussy with 3 Mazurkas by Thomas Ades. I hadn’t heard these previously but found them to be quite delightful. They were quirky, full of humour and scatty imaginings.
The recital was brought to an end with Chopin’s Polonaise in A flat, op.53 “Heroic”. A truly virtuosic piece which was played with apparent consummate ease!!!