FINE music has always been cultivated in both public and private social gatherings.

Bach and his sons gave concerts in the coffee houses of Leipzig in the 1720s and the young Mozart developed his fame in the fashionable salons of Paris.

During the early Romantic period, many talented pianist composers, such as Mendelssohn, Chopin and Liszt, were feted by local society parties, and a culture of both fine instruments and intimate musical forms, such as the nocturne, developed to suit these occasions.

The atmosphere at a recent piano recital in Hexham’s Allegretto Music shop had all of these salon ingredients.

The celebration of a young and highly- talented local pianist, Michael Biggins, was combined with an eager gathering of music lovers and two fine pianos, a Steinway upright and a Kawai boudoir grand, all of which contributed to an unusual and highly enjoyable recital.

Michael is studying music at Chetham’s School in Manchester and has featured in The Courant as a talent to look out for on both the local and national scene.

His programme included at least two compositions that would almost certainly have been heard by an original salon audience.

Beethoven’s Sonata Les Adieux clearly portrayed the solemn sorrow of parting, the bleakness of the absence of a loved one and then, with a joyful lightness, the return.

Michael captured these changing moods with great musical sensitivity. Two Chopin nocturnes were played with exquisite delicacy and a clear, singing, melodic sense.

Rachmaninov’s Prelude in G Minor, with its contrasts of strong Russian chordal rhythms and lyrical melody, explored the range of the piano, displaying darkness and light with poetic expressiveness.

A delightful and virtuosic piece of Ravel’s Alborado del gracioso displayed Flamenco-style rhythms with outbursts of bright colour and a middle section akin to Debussy’s impressionistic preludes.

The crowning performance of the evening was a two-piano version of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto in which Michael was joined by renowned North-East pianist David Murray, who played the Steinway piano as the orchestral part of Duo.

This work is certainly one of the most famous in the whole repertoire of concertos, but it is amazing how revealing and enjoyable it can be to watch and hear a different arrangement at close hand.

One revelation was to see how often the roles of soloist and accompaniment are interchanged between piano and ‘orchestra’ and another was the satisfying sense that nothing was missing from the lack of an orchestra.

All the drama, orchestral colour and vast range of dynamics, so familiar in the well-known version, were present in the two pianos, reminding us what a wonderful instrument a fine piano is.

Of course, it was the genius and high level of musicianship of Michael Biggins and David Murray that made this an exciting and truly musical performance.

This recital was the first of a series to be held in Allegretto Music and, from this experience, it will be well worth grabbing one of the limited number of tickets for future events.

By Joan Peugniez