Weymouth Lunchtime Chamber Concerts, Wednesday 24 October 2018

Marie-Louise Taylor, piano

Tribute to Debussy

Arabesque No. 1, Reflets dans L’eau, Prelude from Pour le Piano, Estampes, Clai de Lune, La fille au cheveux de lin, La Cathedrale engloutie, Feux d’artifice

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It’s rare to hear Debussy’s piano music played well – and I mean really well. Too often misconceptions about his “impressionism” lead to sounds and motifs muddied by over-pedalling, and rhythmic anomalies abound in passages where the pianist decides Debussy’s written out rubato is simply not sufficient to create atmosphere.

In my first visit to the Weymouth Lunchtime Chamber Concert series, run by the estimable Duncan Honeybourne (who also performs in some of the concerts), Marie-Louise Taylor (daughter of the pianist and pedagogue Harold Taylor) gave a delightful concert in tribute to Debussy in a programme with charted his development as a composer of exquisite piano music, from his early Arabesque No. 1 (1888) to his final Prelude, Feux d’artifice (1913), a pianistic tightrope act which confirms his modernist credentials.

This elegant programme revealed Marie-Louise as a sensitive Debussy pianist whose precise yet expressive playing was rich in clarity, wit, rhythmic grace and musical understanding. The character of each individual piece was carefully delineated, from the fluid intertwining lines of the first Arabesque to the shimmering Eastern-inspired soundscape of Pagodes and the awesome majesty of Debussy’s sunken cathedral. And all enhanced by immaculate pedalling which brought vibrancy and luminosity to Debussy’s kaleidoscopic musical palette.

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Weymouth Lunchtime Chamber Concerts continue on 21 November with a recital commemorating the centenary of the end of the First World War with Duncan Honeybourne. Further information