The venue for Valentina Seferinova’s latest piano recital was South Downs College, situated on the hills above Portsmouth and host to a thriving music education department.
The background to this concert was unusual but intensely significant: the recent passing of the performer’s mother. Conceived as a traditional Bulgarian tribute given 40 days after a bereavement, the program contained pieces that Ms Seferinova’s mother had heard her play many times and had become favourites of hers; thus having a powerful personal meaning that communicated itself strongly in the performances.
I had rushed from work in a long lunch ‘hour’ and was thus not in the usually relaxed mode of the concertgoer. But this I think helped me to concentrate and avoid the sleepiness that almost always afflicts me at most evening affairs these days.
The program featured entirely Romantic works by Eastern European composers, of whom Ms Seferinova has become something of a champion both as a performer and recording artist.
The audience comprised students and guests, the average age of the former being about 19. The settling in phase was replete with those looks of intense, offended antipathy that only teenagers can do properly. I love to watch the faces of audiences at concerts to get a feel for the impact of the event and, as the concert progressed, the looks became, on almost every face, no less intensely rapt than they had earlier been disdainful. It helped that the program featured many pieces composed when their creators were also very young, and that the performer talked about each piece briefly before playing.
We heard works by Rachmaninov (Morceaux de fantaisie including the thunderous C Sharp Minor Prelude and the amusing and gorgeous Polichinelle); Chopin (an early Polonaise and the Nocturne Op. 55 No 1) along with pieces by, among others, Scriabin.
The highlight for me, leaving aside the inevitably gripping Rachmaninov Prelude, was Seferinova’s knowing and dynamically rich Chopin playing. The Nocturne, in its quiet moments, produced sustained, intensely engaged ‘no fidget’ responses from the youth whose normal state is one of eternal motion, a minor miracle in itself. The Polonaise had more depth and dynamic range than might be expected from its 15-year old composer and than that given on a recording by at least one world famous pianist that I have heard.
Ms Seferinova has a devoted following and goes from strength to strength both as a recording artist and on the local scene in Hampshire as a performer and teacher. I strongly recommend seeing her live, if you get the chance; it is a truly rewarding experience.
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