At the Society's April meeting, Charles Matthews displayed his superb skill as an accompanist. This month we welcomed him back as a solo pianist with “Impressions of Spain”.

The programme contained a variety of pieces by Spanish composers and others from France, Poland and England/Australia. In the opening piece, “Waltz from the Canary Islands” by Saint-Saens, the first spread chord captured immediately the sound and spirit of the flamenco guitar. This then developed quickly into a lively waltz.

“Dances from Seville” by Geoffrey Allen (born 1927), composed in a more 20th century style, provided an interesting contrast. Coincidentally, Geoffrey is a distant relative of Charles Matthews who told us that his relative has written a total of seventeen piano sonatas (when the seventeenth is finished!)

Pieces by Albeniz, Ravel and Diez followed, then “Bolero” by Chopin. This rarely performed work had all the Chopin characteristics of rapid scale passages and lots of decorative features but still conveyed the feel of Spanish music. Later we heard “Three Dances from Spain” by Rodrigo and “Evening in Granada” by Debussy. This short piece with contrasting sections from fast and furious to slow and languid was a Tour de force accomplished with great technical skill, a real sense of style and a certain amount of panache! After several minutes of loud applause Charles returned and played “Andalucia” by Granados, a fitting encore to an extremely enjoyable evening of “Impressions of Spain”.