Pianist Lucy Parham’s concert at the Wigmore Hall as part of the London Piano Series on December 30th, will, no doubt, be a wonderful way to end 2012. The concert is entitled Rêverie – The life and loves of Claude Debussy. Lucy offers several themed evenings in her repertoire focusing on particular composer’s lives, interspersing readings with piano music. She has toured the country presenting concerts exploring the lives of Clara and Robert Schumann (Beloved Clara), Liszt and Chopin, and she is always accompanied by renowned actors. For this recital  at the Wigmore Hall, Lucy will be joined by Dominic West, Winner BAFTA Best Actor 2012 and star of The Wire and The Hour.

I love combination of the words and music; they seemingly compliment each other perfectly. Many composers have written Melodramas over the years – a spoken story set to music – and I have thoroughly enjoyed performing many of them.

Lucy’s recital goes one step further juxtaposing often well-known piano works with letters and scripts, usually written by Lucy, vividly depicting the composer’s lives and, as in the case of Rêverie, Debussy’s loves too. According to Lucy’s programme notes ‘A crucial element of Debussy’s complex intellectual and emotional world was an entangled love life that brought illicit trysts in Jersey, a brush with a revolver and even a suicide attempt’.  The actor brings the composer’s character to life and allows the audience a much deeper knowledge of the composer’s life and background.

Rêverie contains numerous piano favourites such as Clair de Lune, Rêverie, Girl with the Flaxen Hair, Golliwogg’s Cake Walk, Poissons d’Or, Reflets dans l’eau, Arabesque No. 1, Jardins sous la pluie, the Etudes and L’isle joyeuse.

If you would like to hear more about Lucy’s life and career, you can enjoy my Classical Conversation with her here on my blog.

Publications

Melanie Spanswick has written and published a wide range of courses, anthologies, examination syllabuses, and text books, including Play it again: PIANO (published by Schott Music). This best-selling graded, progressive piano course contains a large selection of repertoire featuring a huge array of styles and genres, with copious practice tips and suggestions for every piece.

For more information, please visit the publications page, here.