By 2023 Wimbledon hopes to have a state-of-the-art, Gehry-designed concert hall. Meanwhile, the Wimbledon International Music Festival already boasts a stellar roster worthy of such a space.
The Grammy-winning cellist Zuill Bailey, who is hugely popular in the US, deployed his sumptuous tone and jaw-dropping technique most effectively in Chopin’s Polonaise Brillante, though the heart-stopping eloquence of which he is capable was most evident in his encore, Bloch’s Prayer, and an unprogrammed opener, Gluck’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits.
Sonatas by Boccherini and Beethoven also offered memorable moments, even if the honeyed tone occasionally have verged on the saccharine.
But all credit to Bailey for bringing a recent piece by his compatriot Michael Daugherty. Tales of Hemingway evokes the bell-tolling, bull-running preoccupations of the American author in reflections on a quartet of his classics with suitably testosterone-fuelled virtuosity. Piers Lane, who elsewhere matched every exquisite nuance of Bailey’s, here simulated the tonal range of a 100-piece orchestra with aplomb.
Ends Sunday (0333 666 3366, wimbledonmusicfestival.co.uk)
