A Celebrity Recital
requires a celebrity and so whilst Vanessa Latarche is not (yet)
a celebrity perhaps a few words about her may be in order. She
studied at the R.C.M. in London and later in America and France.
She’s active as a recitalist and accompanist – principally an
instrumental accompanist – and has broadcast on BBC Radio. She
was professor of piano at the R.A.M in London and is now Head
of Keyboard at her alma mater whilst also being a diploma trainer
and trainer of new examiners. She’s also a new member of the
teaching faculty at Chetham’s summer school – this was her first
visit.
She certainly nailed
some intellectual colours to the mast in her recital which is
top heavy with Preludes and Fugues. She selected four such from
Book I of the “48” and one from Book II adding, for good measure,
the E minor Prelude and Fugue of one of Bach’s most fervent
admirers and “rediscoverers”, Mendelssohn. At the concert she
then moved into romantic waters with the A flat major Ballade
of Chopin and ended with an encore of his G flat major Waltz,
Op.70 No.1. On disc the two Chopin pieces have been reversed;
we end with the Ballade and then twenty seconds or so of applause.
The whole recital lasts three quarters of an hour.
It so happens that
I have been listening to Craig Sheppard’s recently released
complete Book I, also recorded in concert, though in his case
in the home of Transatlantic latte, Seattle. The differences
are instructive and once again show the wide latitude open to
pianists when playing these Olympian works. To be brief she
prefers a weightier touch, a more directional approach and a
less detailed exploration of colour. One can argue about such
things indefinitely, infinitely, but comparisons are useful
in teasing out their imperatives in this music. Latarche prefers
a less pliant, less nuanced approach. It can sound a touch stolid
after Sheppard’s lighter textured and limpidly voiced terpsichorean
playing. But Latarche is consistent in her aims and she brings
strong intellectualism to bear. They are, in any case, very
different ways of approaching the “48” – Sheppard constantly
evoking texture, weight, light and colour with pinpoint precision,
whilst Latarche, who never wallows tempo-wise, seems to belong
to a rather different tradition. I did feel however that her
left hand voicings in the C sharp minor Prelude were under-inflected
and heavy, adding to a sense of immobility that does sometimes
emerge in these performances.
Her Mendelssohn
Prelude and Fugue is strongly projected and serves as a fine
piece of historically and musically minded programming. The
Chopin Waltz is less successful. It’s keen-edged but stop-starts
rhythmically and doesn’t flow at all naturally – the rubato
is too free for my tastes. The Ballade ideally needs a greater
range of colours and a stronger sense of finesse.
This is Vanessa
Latarche’s disc calling card. It’s only forty-five minutes in
length but preserves her recital in its entirety thanks to the
fine sounding Dunelm recording set up.
Jonathan Woolf
Vanessa Latarche
(piano) 
