MEMORABLE CONCERT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 164, 13 July 1945, Page 7

MEMORABLE CONCERT

ISADOR GOODMAN'S SUCCESS PINE "APPASSIONATA" After an absence of over a decade Wto. Isador Goodman, the brilliant young South African pianist, whose fine performances created a sensation when he was last here, made a welcome reappearance in the Town Hall last evening, He was greeted by an audience which overflowed into the choir seats, and whose enthusiasm waxed greater and greater with each successive presentation.

The possessor of a wonderful pair of hands, Mr. Goodman's touch is beautifully crisp and clear. He knows just where he is with his instrument, and proceeds to prove that with power, delicacy and decision. Although his interpretations generally were inclined to be romantic: rather than austere, he seems able to blend head and heart in a masterly fashion. He has no temperamental mannerisms, so the listener can really sit back and enjoy the programme to the full.

Last night's programme was a judicious mixture of well-known classics and lighter works, some familiar, some not very often heard. Opening with Tausig's pianoforte arrangement of Bach's great "Toccata and Fugue in D minor'' for organ, in which he gave a performance notable for clean execution, thoughtful phrasing and intellectual interpretation, he next came to the magnum opus of the •concert, Beethoven's "Sonata in P minor, Op. 57." Evidently inspired by the title given to the sonata by Beethoven's publisher, Kranz, that of "Appassionata" or "Impassioned," Mr. Goodman's interpretation was inclined to emphasise that aspect of the composition. However, it was a well-balanced performance, full of vitality and charm. Thanks to his superlative command of the keyboard from start to finish, it was a triumph of technical achievement, outstanding features of which were the manner in which dynamic contrast was sharply defined, the beautiful restrained playing of the slow movement, and the clear-cut passages in the last movement.

Mr. Goodman has the great gift, so necessary to the playing of Chopin, of producing a rich singing tone. This was exemplified in his sensitive playing of the

"Waltz in A flat major." and four mazurkas. His tenderly subdued style of playing was ideally suited to "music of moonlight and dark shadow; music that needs not so much to be heard as overheard"—the "Nocturne in D flat major," an enrapturing performance.

Given with striking percussive effect, that brilliant piece of rhythmical music, Falla's "Ritual Fire Dance," was an exciting performance. The pianist's feather-like touch was heard to great advantage In the delicate rippling passages of Debussy's seldom-heard "Pagodes," and a brilliant performance of the SchultzKvler "Concert Arabesque" on the "Blue Danube Waltz" of .Johann Strauss. Another charming performance was that of Ibert's "Little White Donkey."

Responding to tumultuous applause, Mr. Goodman played a number of supplementary items, including Bach's "Mortify us by Thy Grace," and Chopin's "Butterfly" and "Black Keys" studies.