PAUL SCHRAMM

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24679, 24 September 1945, Page 3

PAUL SCHRAMM

— * — A FINE PERFORMANCE With a varied programme ranging from classical restraint.to present-day iconoclasm, Paul Schramm, on Saturday evening concluded his series of recitals. The first portion of his programme included the Symphonic Studies (Schumann), Sonata, Op. 109 (Beethoven), and the Bach-Busbni Chaconne, fine music, splendidly played. The Symphonic Studies, 12 variations based on a theme of Schumann’s prospective father-in-law, are among the finest examples of Variation Form. Products of that "remarkable year,” they reveal the divided personality embodied in the Active characters, Florestan and Eusebius, The theme is no mere prop to be embroidered with melodic figuration, indeed sometimes the development, in the words of Cortot, leaves nothing “but a tonal projection, on a harmonic radiation.” Mr Schramm’s interpretation preserved the homogeneity of the work and yet endowed it with that duality of character. The playing of the second variation was particularly fine. The transition into the fifth variation was managed with a beautiful feeling for nuance. With the seventh variation one feels that • the direction “sempre marcatissimo” if too. literally adopted, gives a squareness, foreign to Schumann’s nature. The eleventh variation was played with poetical insight leading into a brilliant finale.. The Beethoven Sonata presents the problem of interpolating rhapsodic figuration between sections of comparative formality, without disturbing the flow as a whole. The opening Vivace savoured a little of Schumann, but the Adagios afforded an opportunity for some exquisite bravura playing. The final Variations wdre splendidly played with piano style, touchingly simple or impassioned and. vehement, as required. The Bach Chaconne made good listening, full of nobility and organ colour. At times the figuration was somewhat obscure. The latter portion of the programme introduced music new to New Zealand listeners. Composition to-day is fraught with danger. Tradition has long ceased to matter, and it is so fatally easy to produce clever, effective work. Technical mannerisms which formerly expressed the individuality of a small group, are now the stock in trade of all. Paul Schramm’s Kaleidoscope is clever, effective piano writing. Whether it music, is for posterity to decide. On a first hearing one’s impressions move from musical interest in the “Soliloquy,” to amusement at the “Satyr’s Promenade.” All the set displayed a thoabugh grasp of the capabilities and sonorities of the pianoforte Of the "Nazified Waltz.’’ may we ask, was It necessary? He played an innocuous Prelude by the American. D. G. Mason, followed by “Song and Dance” by the Spanish writer Mompou, given with delicacy and charm. Two works by Maloof and -Chavarro are so tinged with provincial idiom as to remind one somewhat of a Hollywood Travelogue. , „ , His playing of the Juon Study was brilliant, as was his treatment of Manuel de Falla, but one feels that the choice of music in the second half made something of an anti-climax. Mr Schramm’s performance was good, at times inspiring. He brought to the piano not only an amazing technical ability, but also the imagination and character of a strong personality.