A commendable piano performance

The National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) hosted an evening of piano music by three men who have received their music training in the US.

The unique thing about the performance was that all three were visually impaired. It was awesome to see how nature compensates one for a faculty it may have deprived one of.

They put up a very good show even though they couldn’t read notations. It was this drawback that made the performance all the more praiseworthy.

They rendered a potpourri of tunes starting with the Baroque (Johaan Sebastian Bach), to the classical (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) and Romantic (Frederick Francois Chopin) as also avant-garde music like hits from the Beatles dating back to the 60s and the 70s.

The opening performance was by Rubail Rufin. He played light numbers which were deftly rendered, especially the theme from the epic, Titanic.

It was very well played and his finger work over the keyboard was really astute. However, he proved himself a master of music through his rendition of Bach’s prelude in C.

The tonal harmony and the sensitivity of the notes were highly effective. Despite the Bach compositions which are loud and sometimes heavy, this one was really soft and mellow.

Next came Ashir Wilson. He started his performance with the age-old immortalised Christmas carol, Silent Night, Holy Night, by Gruber and Mohr. While the angelic, soothing effect synonymous with the carol was every bit there, unfortunately he went flat at the sixth or seventh note. This aside, his performance was highly astute.

He did not play anything classical but just restricted himself to theme tunes from films. Another piece he presented was Yesterday, by The Beatles, which must have brought back sentimental memories of the 70s to many. He marred his performance by talking too much. His attempts at humour and fumbling speech somewhat marred his performance.

Next came Julian Qaiser. He really outshone the other two performers before him with his flawless rendition of Beethoven’s Fur Elise, a trade mark of Beethoven’s, performed most adroitly. This was followed by Mozart’s Turkish March, again most deftly performed and deftly interpreted. This was followed by Bach’s Prelude in C and Chopin’s Prelude in B-minor. The latter was most precisely rendered, interpreting the vivacious, lively rhythm of Chopin’s compositions.

Later, he rendered the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven.

It was a highly entertaining evening, especially for lovers of classical music. Qaiser was decidedly the most avid, the most proficient of all three pianists.