A near capacity audience were exhilarated by the brilliance, subtle interpretation and stylish panache of international pianist Victor Lim at the first CCS concert of 2025 on Wednesday 6th February, held in the Lecture Theatre of Clitheroe Royal Grammar School. The Concert Society warmly welcomed twelve of Victor’s young students from Rossall School near Fleetwood.
The quiet, calm and gentle manner in which Victor introduced the items on the programme was replicated in the sensitive sections of the opening pieces. However, this was very soon replaced with bursts of passionate, powerful and energetic playing in Robert Schumann’s Kreisleriana and sustained in Ravel’s La Valse. A show stopping performance left the audience delighted and amazed by his sheer technical skill and musicality evidenced in this familiar item.
After the interval, Victor played two relatively modern pieces by Boulanger and Fitkin prior to the much anticipated Liszt Sonata in B minor. Considered by many as Liszt’s crowning masterpiece, Victor brought out the contrasting colours of this wonderful Sonata. At the end of the Concert, the audience’s enthusiasm was rewarded with an encore of a Chopin Mazurka.
Victor Lim, seated, along with Clitheroe Mayor, Councillor Donna 0’Rourke and her Consort Councillor Simon O’Rourke