Review: Sebastian Stanley, piano: Young Artists Recital Series, The Pound, Corsham (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Review: Sebastian Stanley, piano: Young Artists Recital Series, The Pound, Corsham

It’s wonderful every so often to find someone who stands out from the crowd, from the ordinary.

And this young man certainly does that.

He was born in Spain but is not Spanish; yet his playing of Albeniz and Granados – on a piano, remember – shows that the Spanish musical genre runs through his veins.

He opened with Haydn’s Fantasie in C Major, which I don’t think is his forte. But, the Spanish marque certainly is. He has the emotion (to match his wonderful tie!), the texture and, at times, the soulful touch that Spanish music needs.

His placing of grace notes so echoed the guitar, his gentle, rolling left hand base formed an imperturbable anchor and to think that this was his first public performance of pieces from Goyescas – “I didn’t feel comfortable with it before now” – makes me think that if he persists in his fluid interpretation of Iberian music he could well carve out for himself a most attractive niche.

He finished with Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No 12: Fine, a little hurried, but yet another string to an impressive bow.