WILLIAM Conway has built up a reputation as a musical
jack-of-all-trades but, when it comes down to it, what he does best is
play the cello. In yesterday's lunchtime recital in the Westbourne Music
series, Conway unleashed a wonderfully emotional programme for solo
cello.
Composed around ten years ago by Conway's late father-in-law, John
Bevan Baker, Legend is a programmatic work depicting the tale of Joan of
Arc. The music embraces all of the emotions of the battlefield, from
fear and loneliness to ecstasy and triumph. Conway has a strong
communicative ability which allows each emotion to spring from the
fingerboard of his instrument, like words falling off a speaker's lips.
This performance spared nothing, left hand pizzicato and haunting
harmonics expanding his expressive range.
No solo cello recital is complete without a Bach suite: Conway chose
the fifth. Delicate ornamentation and sensitive turns of phrase
permitted the elegance of Bach's baroque dance forms to dominate as
opposed to the clinical technical qualities of the music. The second
movement was slow and stately, contrasting with the buoyant tempo of the
final Gigue.
To ''warm up'' his recital, Conway selected one of the earliest solo
works for the cello, the short Ricercar by Gabrieli. A busy piece, the
translation was tightly executed offering much dynamic and expressive
contrast.
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