BUDE Music Society provided another outstanding concert on Sunday, February 10, at St Martin’s Church, writes Sylvia Goldspink.

The visiting artist was Oliver Wass (harp). Already an experienced performing player he has an impressive list of achievements and he did not disappoint.

The harp has notorious technical difficulties for the performer, but he surmounted these with apparent ease and explained some of the complexities with humour and a relaxed and charming stage manner.

His programme was carefully chosen and well-balanced and covered a broad range of styles, from baroque to jazz. The playing had extraordinary clarity and texture and his fluent finger technique made light of the technical intricacies. He displayed overall a true sense of musicianship, which was always sensitive to phrasing and balance. There was a broad range of dynamics and especially meaningful soft playing, which had the large audience enthralled.

He had entitled his programme ‘A Kind of Madness: Inspiration and the Greek Muses’, based on a quotation from Plato to the effect that possession by muses is a kind of madness, but those who have Art without passion do not draw the fine line between inspiration and madness.

Many of the pieces were, of necessity, transcription, although the Bach Suit had originally been written for the lute harpsichord, a forerunner of the modern harp, played by plucking the gut strings.

The beginning and ending were contemplative (a Prokofiev Prelude and a charming and calming encore) but there was plenty of fire in Da Falla’s Spanish Dance and his own arrangement of Ravel’s Jeux d’eau — difficult enough in the original piano version, but fiendishly so on the harp.

There were two other Ravel pieces, two movements from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet ballet and variations on The Carnival of Venice by Posse, an admirer of Liszt. He included a jazz suite by an American composer, which was not on the published programme, and again proved his ability to slip effortlessly into a different idiom.

This was playing of high quality by a musical academic that displayed a deep understanding of the musical content and his devotion to the instrument, conveying his own enjoyment with modesty and panache.

Bude is fortunate to have such an active music society, which brings concerts of an extremely high standard to the local area.

The final concert of the 72nd season will be on Sunday, March 24, at 3pm, when Robin Bigwood will bring his harpsichord to St Martin’s Church, Killerton Road, Bude for a performance of J S Bach’s ‘other’ variations. Tickets are always available on the door and everyone is assured of a warm welcome.

The society expressed its thanks to those who supported its 72nd season in whatever way.

For further information about the society’s forthcoming or past events visit www.budemusicsociety.org.uk