<<  -- 2 --  Malcolm Miller    PIANO SONORITY

Third prize went to Miho Kawashima from the Yehudi Menuhin School, who launched the competition with a scintillating Sonata Op 10 No 3 in D. The octave theme was buoyantly articulated and the whole structurally clear and dramatically paced, with plenty of character especially in the finale. This was not at all studied or mannered but very mature. There were other commendable performances such as the impassioned Waldstein sonata played by Richard Uttley of the Junior Royal Northern College of Music, who was daring in his slow tempo for the second movement and his use of pedal for the Rondo theme. This was a fiery account, full of energy and intensity and clearly Uttley has a good future ahead.

So too Cordelia Williams of Chetham's School of Music, who projected a resonant and attractive tone in the Sonata Op 31 No 2, The Tempest, though her tempi were generally on the safe and slow side, occasionally producing a stolid effect. Anne MacGregor of the Junior Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama played the first movement of the Sonata in E Op 14 No 1 with plenty of interest and subtlety: her musicality was evident, though the scope of her technique was not shown to its fullest extent. Alberto Portugheis introduced the event and thanked the Director of the Austrian Cultural Forum Dr Johannes Wimmer, while Malcolm Troup, BPSE Chairman, gave a word of thanks to conclude the proceedings.