She was asked in an interview about her most memorable concert experience. And Elisabeth Brauß responded “It’s always a few notes, a phrase, a shared moment on stage, during which you know why you’re doing it all, at least as long as the music sounds … That can happen in every concert.”
But it must, I think, have been more than a few notes that were memorable for her last Monday at Wigmore Hall, more than a phrase. The opening pieces alone were a wonder and a delight. Elisabeth started with a sequence of Scarlatti sonatas, beautifully chosen to make (as it were) an emotionally satisfying meta-sonata. And she played with such sensitively controlled phrasing, bringing out the depths particularly of the second B minor sonata, true to the music, so individual yet without a moment’s self-indulgence. The audience knew that they were listening to something very special. My very hard-to-please piano-teacher sister was “blown away”. And the way Elisabeth herself responded at the end of sequence and then smilingly took the applause before she settled to compose herself before launching into the Mozart, rather suggested that the shared Scarlatti which she been evidently been so wrapped up in would be as memorable for her as for her audience. Just outstanding, as long as the music sounded.
But see and hear for yourself, on YouTube for some weeks.