A Piano Recital In Memory Of Frances Davis

Sunday afternoon, 24th February 2008 ---- A bright day and a bright occasion.  Walking into the Recital Room of LES's strikingly beautiful new Music School, we came upon a wonderful gathering of people, filling almost every seat.  Nearly all of them had had a significant personal connection at some time with Frances.  Straight away I had the impression of a friendly, colourfully dressed and appreciative audience, all definitely out to enjoy themselves.  The quality of attentiveness and the applause afterwards showed that they most certainly did!  

It was my brother Mark's idea to have a piano recital, since our mother had herself been an accomplished amateur player.  Mark secured our young Russian soloist, Konstantin Lapshin, through the Royal College of Music.  Konstantin is currently studying for a Master's Degree in Performance, having previously been at the Moscow Conservatoire.  He has won many prizes and has already performed extensively in Russia and also in Germany and Romania.  

The programme, worked out with Konstantin, featured Berg, Chopin and Brahms, many of the pieces being ones that our mother used to play.  The Berg sonata is a favourite of Mark's.  Looking towards his homeland, Konstantin chose Rachmaninov for his encores.  His playing was remarkable, contained and focussed rather than demonstrative in manner, yet expression and feeling, along with amazing technique, were all there in those swift fingers.  He played the Brahms Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel after the opening Berg. These Variations are an exhilarating tour de force, taking 25 minutes to play.   Then came all the lovely Chopin one could relax into.  For me, some of those pieces seemed very poignant and I felt them as a kind of elegy for my mother.  

In an unassuming way Konstantin had the audience well within his grasp.  How fortunate we all were, to witness a gifted pianist at the start of a very promising career.  

Our afternoon concluded with a delightful reception in the interesting curved Street area, where refreshments were charmingly laid out and much meeting up with old friends occurred.  We were honoured to have in our midst Philip Tomlinson, who had known Frances for years through the Loughborough Magistrates' Court.  He very kindly spoke about her and all the multifarious voluntary social work she had been involved in and the inspiration she had been for a wide variety of people.  

It was lovely to have both Miss O'Connor and Miss Harvatt present with us, as well as many other High School members.  Amongst Old Girls were Linda and Rachel Trost, Christine North (Cockerill), Gaynor Byass (Cruttwell) and Susan Woodward, and of my mother's generation Doreen Butterworth (Mallinson).  Frances would have been touched by the warmth shown both in remembering her and so kindly extended also to us, her family.  I would especially like to commend the three Music Prefects, who looked after us all admirably in Mr Mitchell's absence on new baby duty!  

The sealed envelope Collection amounted to £800, which we have divided equally between LES Music School and the Bishop Beveridge Old People's Club in Barrow-upon-Soar, of which Frances was a founder member.                                                                                                                                   Charlotte Davis