Sound23 Concert at the Elztalmuseum
″Now the hall is almost full″, commented an employee of the Elztal Museum at the cash desk at a quarter to eleven - and the beautiful baroque hall was actually very well filled for this first concert without the pandemic distance rules. The audience was looking forward to the piano concert with the William Cuthbertson, who was born in England and now lives in Waldkirch.William Cuthbertson had prepared a program full of hope, energy and joy. It began with the Sonata in B flat major K.570 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which, as Cuthbertson previously noted, is an intriguing piece with surprising details. Sometimes the tones rolled like drops, sometimes they formed coherent melodies. Creative and powerful, this was followed by fantasy pieces by Robert Schumann with melodies ranging from cheerful to thundery - like the weather in front of the museum. With an almost unbelievable speed, Cuthbertson′s fingers whizzed over the keys in Chopin′s Tarantella op.43. The polonaise in A major op.40 no.1, also by Chopin, is known to cineastes from Polanski′s film ″The Pianist″. For the Polish people, it is an anthem: it was the last piece to be played on the radio before the German invasion in 1939 and the first after. In contrast, Beethoven′s Sonata in A flat major op.110 is more solemn and thoughtful.
The enthusiastic audience didn′t let Cuthbertson go after that either. With the Chopin Etude in G flat major, Op.10 No.5 (″Black Keys″) and the Bach cantata ″Jesu, bleibet meine Freude″, he let the guests leave to enjoy the Sunday sun.
Badische Zeitung, Sylvia Sredniawa 28th March 2023