Helen Brown meets pianist Christina Lawrie and hears how her native city’s support has allowed her to enter the recording studio for the first time.
Last year, as the result of the efforts of charity fundraisers Garry Fraser, Ken Murray and Jim Patrick who put together the City of Discovery Charity Concert at the Caird Hall Christina Lawrie made her debut as a soloist in the Gchristirieg Piano Concerto with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
It was a memorable occasion in many ways and the exuberance and technical brilliance of her performance brought the house down in a packed hall. Making that debut might have been enough of a major event at the time, Christina herself described it as “a dream come true.” But, in the way that some of the best career moves can never actually be planned, listening to her that night were a group of people so impressed by what they heard that they contacted her about the possibility of her making her first recording. Members of the Pollok House Arts Society of Glasgow had travelled to Dundee specially for the concert.
Christina explained, “Putting a CD together was something I had thought about, but at that stage I wasn’t actively looking into it. This incredibly generous offer was to help me fund a recording project and their vision and enthusiasm inspired me to take it to the next stage and apply for further support. I contacted the Scottish Arts Council Recording Fund and Dundee Musicians’ Award Scheme and got the thumbs-up from both.
“I think we’re lucky to have a very supportive council in Dundee and a really healthy, growing arts sector.”EncourageThe Dundee Musicians’ Award Scheme is run by the city council’s leisure and communities department and offers grants to Dundee-based musicians to encourage their professional development and the creation of new work or music-related projects. It arches across the musical and performance spectrum since 2008, it has supported recordings by bands such as The Hazey Janes and Luva Anna, funded training in music therapy and vocal technique and the creative development of Balkan gypsy cabaret group The Lost Todorovs.
The £1000 grant, matched by the SAC, will allow Christina to go into the recording studio and the resulting CD will be released in July on the new PHAS label created by Pollok House Arts Society. She will be the first artist to appear on it.
The CD will be launched at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London on July 20 by the Park Lane Group who have been instrumental in encouraging the careers of many emerging classical musicians through their Young Artist New Year concert series. Christina has performed for them many times, most recently in January.
Christina will be travelling to Potton Hall in Suffolk to record under the eye and ear of legendary EMI producer John Fraser who has worked with some of the biggest names in the classical world, from Yehudi Menuhin and Daniel Barenboim to Placido Domingo and Kiri te Kanawa.
She will feature music by Brahms the powerful, dark and introspective Fantasies Op.116 which are less often played than some of the composer’s other piano works and Rachmaninov’s Morceaux & Moments, dramatic and intense.
Before she goes to Suffolk in April, she has some meticulous planning in mind, including a visit to America to her mentor, Armenian-born, Moscow Conservatoire-trained pianist Sergei Babayan.
“I think you have to arrive at a studio very well prepared and ready to explore what happens during recording. I’ve done some demo sessions and practice sessions in recording studios but it’s very different from the preparation for a live performance.Pressures”There is a different set of pressures. I’ve still to find this out but people say that the challenging in recording is to maintain energy and momentum when there’s no audience buzz and reaction to spur you on.”
She hopes, too, that she may be able to include some Scottish and Gaelic music on the recording, if it fits. She regularly plays such pieces as encores and is a keen improviser on these tunes.
“It will depend on how it works but Brahms in particular was very interested in folk music and Scottish themes. In Rachmaninov, too, there are boat songs, love songs and ideas that fit in with Gaelic music. There’s a Gaelic quote along the lines that ‘the world may come to an end but love and music will last forever’. That seems to me to sum up what music and performing and playing is all about.”
Christina will be playing an afternoon recital at the Caird Hall on August 21 as the Scottish launch of her CD and, in the morning, she’ll be conducting a workshop for local pianists.
“Part of the reason I’m so pleased to have the backing of the Dundee Musicians’ Award Scheme is that I’m a very proud Dundonian I think it’s fantastic place, with great scenery and so much going on. So many people and groups and organisations have helped me along the way and because I’m so conscious of that and of my roots, I like the idea of giving something back. It’s a privilege to contribute to what the city is planning for its artistic future.”To register for a copy of Christina Lawrie’s debut CD visit www.christinalawrie.co.uk. To find out more about the Dundee Musicians’ Award Scheme visit www.dundeecity.gov.uk/ leisurecomms/grantaid or email musicdevelopment@dundeecity.gov.uk