Barcarolle - Chopin

Blumenstⁿck - Schumann

Intermezzi Op 117 - Brahms

Vers La Flamme - Scriabin

Estampes - Debussy

Six Preludes From Book 2 - Debussy

In a lifetime of listening to piano music, I don't think I've heard accounts of Chopin's Barcarolle or Schumann's Blumenstⁿck as laboured as those offered on Friday night. Tempos were slow. The occurrence of bar lines was marked with numbing effect by both hesitations and accents. And the pedalling in the Schumann was frequently smeary.

Fergus-Thompson remained on similarly pedantic form for most of the evening. He made a warm and substantial sound (partly by ignoring dynamic markings at the lower end of the scale), and worked hard at clarifying part writing by choosing a single line to emphasise, sometimes achieving his desired result by playing out of alignment.

Delicacy of contour in melodic or harmonic shaping and subtlety of layering did not seem to be primary concerns, even in the Debussy of the second half. The suggestiveness that might have been expected was replaced by boldness of gesture and firmness of projection. But, by the third of the selection of six preludes he played (La Terrasse Des Audiences Du Clair De Lune), Fergus-Thompson finally seemed to be getting into his stride. Here, at the end of a musically trying evening, he showed signs of presenting his unorthodox views with real persuasiveness.