Pianist: Margaret
Legge-Wilkinson
National Gallery Of Australia
7 December, 2014
Reviewed by Len Power
It’s hard to think of something better to do on a Sunday
afternoon than listen to a program of music by Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel
played by composer-pianist, Margaret Legge-Wilkinson.
Designed to coincide with the National Gallery of
Australia’s current ‘Impressions of Paris’ exhibition, the concert featured music
selections of Debussy’s Preludes from Books 1 and 2 and Images 1st Series plus
Ravel’s Jeux Deau (Fountains). As
contemporaries of the French Impressionist painters, the composers’ music was
an excellent recital choice. Margaret
Legge-Wilkinson has performed as soloist, accompanist and chamber musician in
Australia and Europe for over 30 years.
Commencing with the shimmering ‘Reflections in the Water’
from Debussy’s Images 1st Series and on through the selections from the
Preludes, the choice of pieces displayed the evocative atmospheres Debussy
created so superbly in his music.
Especially memorable were the gently reflective ‘Hommage to Rameau’, the
feistiness of ‘Minstrels’, the delightful eccentricity of ‘General Lavine’, the
melancholy of ‘Footprints in the Snow’, the quirkiness of ‘Puck’s Dance’ and
the spectacular musical colours of ‘Fireworks’.
Ravel’s ‘Jeau D’eau (Fountains)’ was more conventionally classical in
style and a refreshing and charming piece to end the concert.
Margaret Legge-Wilkinson‘s playing was clear and nicely
paced, bringing out all the atmosphere, colour and wit of the works. While her spoken description of the works was
welcome, her delivery was not as organized as it could have been.
However, it’s the music that’s important here and in that
respect Margaret Legge-Wilkinson certainly delivered the goods.
Originally published
in Canberra City News digital edition 8 December 2014