Ida Pelliccioli at Christ Church

Ms. Ida Pelliccioli’s piano offered in 70 minutes today the longest –and perhaps most instructive of concerts– of the season, all while showcasing Spanish pianist Manuel Blasco de Nebra to a crowd north of 150 that braved today’s rain today to attend Christ Church.

First, the context was set through Domenico Scarlatti and Mozart, a predecessor to all Spanish baroque, the former, and a famed contemporary of Manuel Blasco de Nebra, the latter. Then, three pieces of De Nebra followed, and, to close with a musician prefigured by De Nebra, «Drei Klavierstücke» (D 946) by Franz Schubert were played as the final programmed pieces of the afternoon.

Programmed, I say, for the concert closed with Sonata in C minor (R. 18) and Sonata in G minor (M.38) by Catalan pare Antoni Soler, another late baroque composer, contemporary to De Nebra. It was around this time I realised Ms. Pelliccioli had not brought a single music sheet with her, and, therefore, just played way above an hour from memory. To a guy who cannot yet memorise his phone-number, this is quite an impressive feat, and, by itself, already worth the applause earned by today’s masterclass in Spanish baroque.