A World Class Performance from a Local Pianist

Mark Viner's playing at the Bedford Park Festival mass earns praise

Mark Viner at a previous concert at St. Michael and All Angels

July 18, 2026

Music flourishes at all levels in the schools and in the Parish Churches of Chiswick and the acoustic of St Michael and All Angels is particularly responsive to smaller intimate pieces involving keyboard playing and chamber works. The recent Bedford Park Festival mass with choir, soloists, organ and orchestra was at the other end of the spectrum giving opportunities to hear brass and strings in a liturgical context.

What is the link between a small piece and a large work?

Why surely it is Beethoven and the piano sonatas that can move an audience (or a congregation) into the sublime moods of satisfaction and enjoyment.

Mark Viner, the Internationally acclaimed concert pianist and a member of the congregation at St Michaels provided such a link with not only a pure command of the music which allowed his talent full exposure but a set of musical guidance notes in the programme showing the depth of his scholarship.

The concert in two parts with an interval allowed the very full audience (despite the heat wave) to hear the three movements of the Grande Sonate pathetique in C minor; and the huge applause at the end of the piece was fully deserved with a performance of delicacy and solitude setting the mood in the first movement leading into the familiar strains and strong themes in the second, and the third movements return to the key struck at the beginning of the piece.

With only a short break we were into the Sonata quasi una fantasia "Moonlight" in C sharp minor, settling down to the three movements, performed with panache and brio as the familiar themes of the music sped from the piano. Mark was on terrific form, allowing and embracing the moods of the music in each movement.

In the interval it was noticeable that the audience was expressing huge enthusiasm and satisfaction, and the fact that this was a concert performed locally by a world class musician was especially appreciated as part of the spirit of the community

After the interval the programme continued with the third piece by Beethoven, his piano sonata "Appassionata" in F was composed at the height of his career. It is a fully formed piece influenced by the romantic culture of the time and expressed as a turbulent composition sitting on three movements, giving the pianist a wide set of tempo, a "Fate" motif to guide the piece, a range of expression, a number of themes to be repeated and a third movement of great power.

The audience applauded a first-rate performance of all three compositions, by a first rate and personally modest concert pianist and we loved it !

Mark Viner has accompanied many recent local music performances and it was a pleasure to hear this highly motivated musical individual perform again as a soloist.

Gerald McGregor

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