Music

James Willshire

Merchants House, Glasgow

Keith Bruce

Four stars

A new season on Westbourne Music chamber music recitals in Glasgow city centre has brought with it a move to Wednesdays to avoid clashing with other similar events, and the immediate evidence is that the change will not diminish the loyal audience that fills the elegant room in the Merchants House at lunchtime.

Admittedly, this was a very fine opening to the new programme. James Willshire is possibly best known in Scotland for his Delphian recordings of the piano music of Rory Boyle and Ronald Stevenson, but here he gave a dynamic performance of the original version of Mussorgsky’s Pictures At An Exhibition, taken at a very impressive lick, if perhaps slightly breathless in parts.

The context he gave that performance was also impressive. If the Russian composer could never be described as impressionist, preceding the work with Claude Debussy’s Estampes – which could hardly be more so – set the tone for works inspired by a perambulation among artworks. The precipitation during Jardins sous la pluie was muscular and torrential, serving notice of the powerful playing to come during Pictures.

If you are of the generation who first encountered that suite through the progressive rock version by Emerson, Lake and Palmer, there was a further echo to come with Willshire’s encore. Although announced as a premature acknowledgement of the centenary of composer Alberto Ginastera, which falls next year, ELP fans would also recall that the group also recorded the Argentinian’s music – with his explicit endorsement, as he did not die until ten years later – on the later album Brain Salad Surgery. It is possible, I concede, that I was alone in the room in spotting that connection.