Last But Not Liszt
Admittedly, the Liszt bicentennial celebrations are makedly more muted and subdued, when compared to the same for Chopin last year. That said, this week spared nothing in the line-up of not one, but two recitals dedicated to his legacy.
This evening's literally titled recital "Sunday Night with Adam Gyorgy" couldn't have been more utilitarian or functional, calling a spade a spade. With this Hungarian pianist, it is safe to say that the programme will rarely venture far off the beaten path, with a reassuring handful of familiar favourites recycled as it were from concert to concert.
As with Monday and Kenneth Hamilton, the Liszt Sonata was the jewel in the crown of the evening. Not to discount Gyorgy's talent, but one is more acquainted with his repertoire of shallow and showy pyrotechnics than that associated with this warhorse and its arsenal of technical and tactical plumbing of depths, and it is not without some anticipation and apprehension that one approached the moment in time when it came.
Apart from the Improvisations by Adam Gyorgy which opened the recital, the rest of the programme was faultless, calling them familiar favourites an understatement as such. Chopin's Ballade in G minor, sticking out of the all-Liszt mix, is always a safe bet, and in this pair of hands, a calling card it may well be, the expansive sprawling parable unfolded with a rose-tinted and romanticised heart-on-sleeves reading. The narrative is open to interpretation, but it always conjures up faraway lands of princesses and knights in shining armour and of dungeons and dragons. All this and more Gyorgy painted in his long breathed outpouring of emotions.
There isn't anything I've not said in my last review, what with minimal tweaks to the repertoire. Gyorgy probably believes in the if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it mantra, going the tried and tested route and judiciously so, for he does do what he does with flair and finesse. The Rigoletto Paraphrase, La campanella and the Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 made welcome returns, the pianist clearly in his comfort zone and tellingly putting on a show befitting the casual acquaintance.
From the scintillating arpeggio and glissando effects drawn from Bella figlia dell'amore from Rigoletto to the fleet and fast trigger-happy La campanella that made the concert grand "sing" to the dramatic artifice segueing into a cramp-inducing and piston-driven proverbial finish with a flourish in the Hungarian Rhapsody, Gyorgy was in his element.
The Liszt Sonata was as let-down, with the pianist overly cautious in his studied and mannered approach. Absent was a catalyst of continuity and the performance came across as a warm-up or rehearsal. Gyorgy went through the motions and did not live in the moment in this calculated, processed and engineered reading. That said, he occasionally showcased a luminous delicacy with caresses and whispers that all but had TLC emblazoned on each statement.
Two encores were granted, the Mendelssohn-Horowitz-Gyorgy Wedding March seemingly hilarious to some members of the audience who laughed at the overture and distracted and disrupted the pianist. The ingenuity of the meandering themes was sheer exhilaration as his hands were a blur at the keyboard. Gyorgy closed the evening with a jazzy-bluesy Somewhere Over The Rainbow, though it is hard not to be condescending and think a career switch to a lounge pianist might be overdue.
The recital played through without an intermission, Gyorgy showing reserves of stamina with this punishing programme. One wonders though how much mileage he can get out of recycling this old repertoire, so much for artistic development. Hmmm, if he can get away with rehashing the same music, maybe I can by rehashing the same review.
Posted via LjBeetle
This evening's literally titled recital "Sunday Night with Adam Gyorgy" couldn't have been more utilitarian or functional, calling a spade a spade. With this Hungarian pianist, it is safe to say that the programme will rarely venture far off the beaten path, with a reassuring handful of familiar favourites recycled as it were from concert to concert.
As with Monday and Kenneth Hamilton, the Liszt Sonata was the jewel in the crown of the evening. Not to discount Gyorgy's talent, but one is more acquainted with his repertoire of shallow and showy pyrotechnics than that associated with this warhorse and its arsenal of technical and tactical plumbing of depths, and it is not without some anticipation and apprehension that one approached the moment in time when it came.
Apart from the Improvisations by Adam Gyorgy which opened the recital, the rest of the programme was faultless, calling them familiar favourites an understatement as such. Chopin's Ballade in G minor, sticking out of the all-Liszt mix, is always a safe bet, and in this pair of hands, a calling card it may well be, the expansive sprawling parable unfolded with a rose-tinted and romanticised heart-on-sleeves reading. The narrative is open to interpretation, but it always conjures up faraway lands of princesses and knights in shining armour and of dungeons and dragons. All this and more Gyorgy painted in his long breathed outpouring of emotions.
There isn't anything I've not said in my last review, what with minimal tweaks to the repertoire. Gyorgy probably believes in the if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it mantra, going the tried and tested route and judiciously so, for he does do what he does with flair and finesse. The Rigoletto Paraphrase, La campanella and the Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 made welcome returns, the pianist clearly in his comfort zone and tellingly putting on a show befitting the casual acquaintance.
From the scintillating arpeggio and glissando effects drawn from Bella figlia dell'amore from Rigoletto to the fleet and fast trigger-happy La campanella that made the concert grand "sing" to the dramatic artifice segueing into a cramp-inducing and piston-driven proverbial finish with a flourish in the Hungarian Rhapsody, Gyorgy was in his element.
The Liszt Sonata was as let-down, with the pianist overly cautious in his studied and mannered approach. Absent was a catalyst of continuity and the performance came across as a warm-up or rehearsal. Gyorgy went through the motions and did not live in the moment in this calculated, processed and engineered reading. That said, he occasionally showcased a luminous delicacy with caresses and whispers that all but had TLC emblazoned on each statement.
Two encores were granted, the Mendelssohn-Horowitz-Gyorgy Wedding March seemingly hilarious to some members of the audience who laughed at the overture and distracted and disrupted the pianist. The ingenuity of the meandering themes was sheer exhilaration as his hands were a blur at the keyboard. Gyorgy closed the evening with a jazzy-bluesy Somewhere Over The Rainbow, though it is hard not to be condescending and think a career switch to a lounge pianist might be overdue.
The recital played through without an intermission, Gyorgy showing reserves of stamina with this punishing programme. One wonders though how much mileage he can get out of recycling this old repertoire, so much for artistic development. Hmmm, if he can get away with rehashing the same music, maybe I can by rehashing the same review.
Posted via LjBeetle