<<  -- 2 --  Malcolm Miller    DEBUSSY TO SAVOUR

If her admirably classical clarity continued in three of the Images Book I by Debussy, it was aptly combined with delicately shimmering textures and impassioned climaxes; 'Reflets dans l'eau' had a contemplative spaciousness with poignant moments of intensity, with touching melancholy in 'Hommage à Rameau' and an exhilarating buzz to 'Mouvement', in which the melodic lines were lucidly pointed over the fizzing ostinatos. This was Debussy to savour, and a good appetizer for Tryon's Debussy recordings (Paradisum PDS CD-10).

Due to the absolute transparency and apparent ease of her performances, one could really appreciate the finer points of two delicious popular gems which followed, Sibelius's Romance from the Op 101 set of 1923, a tuneful salon piece subject to ever richer variations culminating in final climactic outpouring and delicate conclusion, Cecile Chaminade's L'Automne, its tender lyricism interrupted by a thrilling dramatic interlude.

After these lighter miniatures the recital reached its goal in an eloquently paced interpretation of Mendelssohn's Variations Serieuses delivered with precision, power and poetry. This work, together with all of Mendelssohn's variations, feature in the most recent of Valerie Tryon's recordings (APR 5595). In this performance, details of harmony and texture were subsumed within a purposeful driving account infused with moments of meditative stillness, achieving a convincing 'serious' tone; more's the reason for the sense of sheer fun in the brief and unusual encore, Chaminade's Corps de Ballet, the final bars of which leapt in a pristine pianistic pirouette to the delight of the enthusiastic audience.