REVIEW – Devizes Arts Festival – Ida Pelliccioli @ Assembly Room 10th June 2024

World Class Piano

by Andy Fawthrop

And, following a lively few days of varied events over this last weekend, we’re now into Devizes Arts Festival’s second week. And at last it was time for some serious classical music, and we were certainly treated to something special when Ida Pelliccioli played the Leslie Taylor Memorial Concert in the Assembly Room last night. Once again the setting of the beautiful Assembly Hall perfectly matched the style and the quality of the entertainment. Indeed this very room was constructed in the very early years of the 19th century, immediately after the deaths of three of the night’s composers.

Ida Pelliccioli is a world-renowned concert pianist who has performed throughout Europe, Canada and South Africa. She was born in Italy and studied in Nice and Paris and, since 2021, she has taught at the Paris Conservatoire.

Her selected programme last night, which was accompanied by extensive notes and a short introduction, was inspired by the forgotten music of ‘the Spanish Scarlatti’, composer Manuel Blasco de Nebra.

We began with three short sonatas by the Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti (1685 – 1757). The first and third of which were at a sparkling, lively tempo, whilst the second was slower and calmer. However all three were played by Ida with plenty of gusto and attack. All of them were very short, and this part of the programme was completed in only ten minutes.

The next section featured two fantasias by the Austrian Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791). These two pieces seemed (to me at least) to possess a little more depth and substance. And again we had the contrast between the dramatic and exciting first piece, set against the more romantic and portentous second piece.

There then followed two pieces by a Spanish composer I’d not previously heard of – Manuel Blasco de Nebra (1750 – 1784), whom Ida described as “the Spanish Scarlatti” and very much a composer that time seems to have forgotten. These two sonatas were each in two movements: an adagio, followed by a more lively allegro. I found them interesting and entertaining, but not as good as what had gone before.

And finally we came to another Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828). Ida played his Drei Klavierstucke (three piano pieces) and, again, we had the structure of one piece that was thoughtful, melancholy, plangent and poignant sandwiched in between two pieces that were far more lively and exuberant.

The whole performance was both intense and mesmerising, played and presented by a world-class pianist who was clearly absolutely dedicated to her work, and completely on top of her game. Entirely justifiably there was sustained applause at the end from a very appreciative audience, provoking not one, but two, short encores, the latter of which was an “impromptu” by the more modern Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865 – 1957).

Another fabulous night at the Arts Festival, and thanks (yet again) to DAF for bringing such top-notch entertainment to our little town. I only wish we had a lot more opportunities in D-Town to hear such wonderful classical music, played by a world-class musician.

The Devizes Arts Festival continues until Sunday 16th June at various venues around the town.

Tickets can be booked at Devizes Books or online at www.devizesartsfestival.org.uk