Laurence Matheson
Melbourne Recital Centre Salon
Thursday 17 November 2016
It’s been said that, at an international level, playing the
right notes is a given. Laurence gave us all the right notes in Beethoven
111 but that was only the beginning.
It was the energy of his playing that set this recital apart
from the merely excellent. At times it was as if he had been captured by the tension
in the score so that his whole body, from his hands to his feet, exploded.
The F minor Fantaisie of Chopin is highly chromatic and
often furious but in this performance every note was in its place and every
phrase was defined crisply and cleanly. There is a beautiful figure in this
piece that involves a succession of single notes building an harmonic structure
of extraordinary delicacy and beauty. We heard this without affectation and
without egocentricity. Its execution depended on Laurence’s trademark virtuosic
pedalling that allowed one note to be fluidly succeeded by the next to construct
the lyrical colour. Each note was defined but the pedal kept it alive to build
on the next without muddying the note before.
The recital was essentially about three fantasies even if
one, Beethoven’s Opus 111, is in sonata form. The wonderful characteristic of
Opus 111 is that it’s very philosophical but in what respect, exactly? I had
no help from the visuals: shiny black piano, black clothes head to toe, a complete absence
of florid hand gestures unless that includes an occasional left-fist nose rub. The music was able to (was allowed to) to speak for itself.
Lawrence’s was a performance of intense emotions: rage?
frustration? hope? resignation? packaged like a controlled coiled spring (again).
His playing in this was as sharp as broken glass – harsh even – but still
finding Beethoven’s underpinning lyricism. Laurence had listened to Beethoven say,
‘Don’t rush me. Take your time. Let me speak. My incredible mind is better than
your incredible mind so don’t try to be clever. You’ll bugger my work.’
Between these two, programmed musicologically rather than sequentially,
we heard As It Were by the Melbourne
award winning academic and composer Elliott Gyger. This fantasy was built on
ideas of Beethoven's Opus 26 and 110 sonatas. It’s a piece that I found difficult to comprehend
at one hearing; I’d like to hear it again especially in the context of its inspiration.
Clearly Laurence comprehended it; the composer seemed pleased with the
performance.
It was his musical intelligence and his technical skills
made this playing so exciting – and deserving of a much bigger audience than
one hundred or so in the Salon (although it was wonderful to have a private
recital).
Laurence won the ANAM Director’s prize for 2015 and is now
an ANAM Fellow. This recital, curated by Marshal McGuire, was a wonderful
celebration of that prestige.
It was the intersection of music, science and chess. Bloody
brilliant!
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