The Wykehamist
faithful performance— especially the emphasis on the first beat of every bar— and the meter throughout could have been kept more regular. That aside, Edwin’ s Courante was virtually on point, capturing effectively the whole point of the Courante as a dance form. Too often, the suites are played as a purely intellectual exercise— meticulous and technically impeccable, but emotionally detached— forgetting that Bach wrote dance music with a proper pulse and body to it. Edwin, however, understood the assignment completely, which made his performance one of the stronger ones that afternoon, and his honourable mention was well deserved.
Jayden Lai( E, 24-), meanwhile, presented the Allegro molto moderato from the Violin Concerto in A Minor, BWV 1041. As with several performances of the afternoon that paired a soloist with piano accompaniment, Jayden was, at times, drowned out by NAS— a recurring logistical challenge when a single pianist stands in for a full orchestra. His playing was technically impressive, and I thought his ornamentation in particular was well handled. However, it did occasionally feel as though NAS was driving the pulse of the concerto rather than following the soloist’ s lead, which was a dynamic that somewhat undermined the performance’ s sense of direction. This pattern of technically precise, yet somewhat stylistically lacking performances continued with Arthur Hall( C, 24-), who offered a technically impressive account of the Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in C minor, BWV 847. Arthur clearly knew the score inside out and had prepared it thoroughly. The Prelude, however, suffered from an accelerating tempo, with the pace quickening steadily as it progressed. With that came a loss of clarity in the left hand, and the lower notes became increasingly difficult to hear, with many accents glossed over entirely. Nerves were evidently a factor in his performance, and as the piece went on, he slowly regained his confidence. This was most obviously demonstrated in the Fugue, considerably more assured— the left hand remained muddier than ideal, but each voice was far clearer, and the performance as a whole was much cleaner.
Alfie Leyland( Coll:, 25-) performed the Inventions No. 7 in E minor and No. 14 in B-flat. Despite only being a first year, he really showed a commendable grasp of the Baroque style. His imitation of the harpsichord’ s tone was convincing,
from his restrained use of the pedal to his static, terraced dynamics. A little more dynamic contrast between phrases would have strengthened the performance further, but his clear sense of a primary melodic line and his considered stylistic choices reflected a musical maturity that augurs well for his future musical ambitions.
Nonetheless, going into the competition, Laurie Sawbridge( H, 22-) was the clear favourite. He had won the Concerto Competition earlier in the year, but the question was, could he bring the same conviction to Bach’ s Partita No. 1 as he had to Rachmaninoff’ s Piano Concerto No. 2? The answer was, largely, yes: his performance was stylistically and technically assured, though I did feel as if it was somewhat more restrained than necessary. The dynamic contrast was slightly lacking, and there were minor lapses in clarity in the Gigue. There was also a tendency to rush towards the closing of the first Minuet, but these were only small blemishes on an otherwise excellent performance. Overall, I found Laurie a thoroughly deserving winner.
Congratulations to Laurie, as well as to Edwin and Kyven on their honourable mentions— I look forward to the next instalment of the Bach Prize in two years’ time!
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