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This year’s York Concert Series is really starting to spoil us with the wonderful evenings it has so far offered; there are many more to still to come! However, last week it was the turn of the hugely talented and impressive harpsichordist, Mahan Esfahani.
He performed the ‘Goldberg’ Variations, BWV. 988 by Johann Sebastian Bach in what proved to be a stunning performance by an individual performer who surely has a long and illustrious international career ahead of him. Born in Iran, Esfahani studied at Stanford University, USA before coming over to Europe and is now settled in Oxford following his appointment as Artist in Residence at New College at the University.
Dividing Bach’s two themes and 30 variations with an interval, Esfahani specifically requested no applause until the very end of the work, even when making his return for the second half. In doing so, he captured and maintained the full attention of an audience enthralled by every moment from beginning to end. On paper, a harpsichord concert may well sound like a fairly dull affair but this was entirely the opposite as his dazzling interpretation of such great music shone through. He approached the slower variations with great thought, often incorporating rubato and in doing so further enhancing the harmonic qualities of Bach’s music. In the faster variations he brilliantly flashed through rapid scalic sections and of particular note was the 29th variation, played at such a fast tempo but seemingly with so much ease.
Esfahani was bursting with enthusiasm throughout the performance and with a brief speech at the end it became clear that his love for Bach is almost a spiritual one. He was given a long applause prompting an encore, ‘Bist Du Bei Mir’, BWV. 508, again played with such elegance and care that the audience remained enraptured throughout the piece. It was yet another fantastic concert from a world renowned star whose performances of Bach in the years to come are an exciting prospect to behold.
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