KRAUS-PIKLER RECITAL

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25250, 31 July 1947, Page 3

KRAUS-PIKLER RECITAL

A thoroughly well-deserved ovation was given to Lili Kraus and Robert Pikler last evening when they finished the series of Beethoven Sonatas. The dignified hall of Canterbury College made a fine setting for this gorgeous music. Whatever the city may lack in a suitable hall for ordinary concerts, and how serious that lack is we all know only too well, we certainly have an ideal hall acoustically for chamber music. Much beautiful music has been heard in the Canterbury College Hall, but this series of recitals will be a treasured memory. Lili Kraus has greatly advanced the cause of music during her stay in New Zealand. We are all deeply grateful to her for her generosity and for her lovely playing. In these recitals she rose to the heights and stayed there throughout the course of them. Robert Pikler deserves high praise for his technique and for that musicianly skill which has enabled him to be a fitting partner for Lili Kraus, who has long been universally recognised as one of the worlds very greatest players of chamber music. Tne last opportunity which the Christchurch public will have of hearing these two artists together, and of hearing Lili Kraus again at- all, will be on Friday night in the Civic Theatre. This opportunity should not be missed. in addition to all that can be said about Lili Kraus’s playing, we cannot let her depart from us without thanking her once again for the all-round general excellence of her programmes. The recital consisted of the First, Eighth and Ninth Sonatas. All three programmes have been ideally designed ’ for balance and for showing the great development of Beethoven s style. This started with the exuberant, youthful D major and ended with the colossal Kreutzer. The G major fitted in perfectly between them, with its pastoral grace and attractiveness. The D major opens- with a challenging figure which passes naturally into the rippling second subject. It lacks the integration of the later works. Here, as in all of Lili Kraus's playing, one was struck by her ability to hold one s interest with every note even in purely accompanying passages. The slow movement is a set of four variations on a theme of tranquil simplicity. The first variation is short and expands the meaning quietly, ttw second has a beautiful arabesque quality. In tne third the theme is growing up and is full of an adolescent rebelliousness, and the fourth is a. period of rest and reflection. The Rondo positively sparkles, and the continually recurring subject is welcomed each time as an old friend. The Eighth Sonata. >n G. major, seems to occupy something of tnat same place in this series as the Sixth Symphony does in the immortal nine. There is control of feeling and logical development in the first movement. The second is labelled Tempo di Minuetto. Stress must be laid on the word tempo, for there is little of tne spirit of the old minuet here. It is lengthy, and of full-bodied flavour like a good and well-matured wine. The opening of the last movement tumbles down like a mountain cascade. The whole, in terms of New Zaa‘® na scenery, could be likened to the Eglinton Valley on a lovely day. The “Kreutzer" was massive in us magnificence. A perfect atmosphere was set in the opening four bars for unaccompanied violin. This was never lost One has- heard this sonata many times, but never played so well as it was last night. The many changing moods of the first movement were realised to the full, the right weight and tone being given to every note and chord It is music of great passion and deep brooding. The variations which form the second movement demand virtuoso technique together with the insight of great musicianship. Both were present. The theme is majestic in its grandeur and its full flowering through the four variations makes this one of the most glorious movements in the whole series of sonatas. The last movement was brought off with the exhilaration of a cavalry charge. The players held hack nothing of its intense excitement, but maintained complete precision throughout. FB '