This very cerebral playlist went from baroque to impressionism all while maintaining a dark, moody tone that young musicians tend to shy from– perhaps favouring what they might perceive as more “showy”, for we all, as youngsters, conflated speed with difficulty, and loudness with emotiveness; but not Ms. Stark, who despite her youth showcased her musical maturity in her selections– and their artful execution.
My favourite was John Thomas’ The minstrel’s adieu to his native land, a piece that flowed prodigiously from a harp that would unfortunately fall a bit out of tune towards the ending of what was (almost) a one hour presentation that started and ended on the piano. The loss of tuning is a rather common occurrence in the very susceptible instrument that is the harp; despite this, the harp’s final song, Sonatina no. 6 in D minor by harpmaker François-Joseph Naderman rose beyond this minor tuning issue and was one of this afternoon's best.
Originally published on 18 Sept