John-Ellis shares his experience
This November, it was my pleasure to play in the School’s annual Steinway Piano Concert, celebrating its status as an All-Steinway School.
As a pianist, the School’s affiliation with Steinway & Sons has always been profoundly important to me; unrestricted access to the School’s myriad pianos remains a vital part of daily life, with liberty to practise at my leisure. This goes hand in hand with the wonderful spaces within the School, where one may practise: the Smith Space, Music Rooms, endless Practice Rooms and even, at times, the Hall. In these transcendent backdrops of wonderful architecture and acoustic, the full wealth of sound produced by a Steinway piano can be unearthed, rendering it an entirely euphoric and unique experience. Famous for their brilliant mechanical design, the instruments produce the most inspiriting tone and are incredibly versatile, complementing all styles of music. As a composer, moreover, these pianos have seen the birth of many of my themes and motifs due to their stimulation of all kinds of imaginative thinking.
For the concert, I decided to perform an enchanting work, Debussy’s Rêverie - translated from French as “daydream”. As an Impressionist composer, Debussy effectively transports the listener to an idyllic vision of peace and the most comforting solitude. It is this personality forged by undulating arpeggios and sonorous parallel chords which compelled me to share this as my contribution to the evening. The music moves through multiple moods: tranquility, yearning, passion and many more. Moreover, the structure is almost cyclic, returning to the opening theme at the end as if the journey that the listener has been led on has escorted them home, as they ‘wake up’ from this daydream. This is just as extremely satisfying to play as it is to hear.
The concert itself saw many other St Albans School pianists perform, including other members of the Sixth Form and younger members of the School. This allowed for the display of a full range of musical styles: from earlier to modern, classical to jazz. As can only ever be expected of the School’s pupils, a distinguished standard of musicianship was exhibited, with both excellent talent in playing and thoughtfully engaging performance skills. No matter how daunting the prospect of appearing before a large audience may be, each pianist overcame this with ease, and – through their own enjoyment of playing – allowed teachers, parents and peers to share in that delight.
All in all, it was a wonderful concert and I greatly look forward to subsequent concerts this academic year.
