Mr. Crosby, piano, accompanied Ms. Cao's clarinet in pieces by Mozart, Camille Saint-Saëns, Gerald Finzi, in a concert that was organised chronologically at the last minute, as our programmes had modernist Finzi first.
It, of course, is also a matter of personal preferences, but I immensely enjoyed this concert— and, judging by the amount of impromptu applause, I mustn’t have been the only one. For me, it was the adagio of the «Clarinet Concerto in A, K622 » that stood out the most: this piece has been done at Christ Church a couple of times recently, but I think today it found the proper, subtle strength of its simple yet profound melody through the synchronised hands (and moods) of both musicians.
The «Five Bagatelles» by londoner Gerald Finzi were the most celebrated of pieces: most of them received individual applause, and from where I sat I could hear some attendees enthusiastically commenting on the performance.