PIANO RECITAL

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27993, 13 June 1956, Page 8

PIANO RECITAL

MALCUZYNSKI’S FIRST CONCERT

GOOD TECHNIQUE BUT LITTLE SUBTLETY

Witold Malcuzynski gave the first ?J e c, eS T° f three pianoforte recitals Theatre last evening. „® in f hl £ d . concert pianist to visit * h last few weeks > and, in this writers opinion, he ranks third on last evening s performance. There is no doubt that Mr Malcuzynski has a facile and powerful techf ique ’ byt al! concert pianists must have that—it can be taken for granted It is what he does with it that mat-

For the most part this recital was uninspiring. There were feats of great virtuosity but little subtlety or poetic feeling. Even in the Chopin group—where one would expect that Mr Malcuzynski, both from his nationality and from his great reputation, would have something reaUy exciting to show in interpretation, very little happened that was out of the ordinary or beyond what a good student could accomplish. Debussy’s ‘‘Engulfed Cathedral” was sensitively played and in this there was charming variety of tonal colouring.

Mr Malcuzynski began the pro--gramme with Bach’s Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor. It was played with admirable clarity and rhythmic control

In Brahms’s Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel we were given rather a “circuits and bumps” performance. Lack of tonal variety, too much intensity where lyrical grace was required, and a seeming insensitivity at times made this performance disappointing so soon after the great charm of Richard Farrell’s reading of it a few weeks ago. The performance ended with Liszt’s Rhapsodic Espagnole and Mr Malcuzynski’s great technical powers made an exciting performance of it for those who like it.

It is a strange thing, considering the vast literature of pianoforte works, how little of it appears in these stereotyped programmes of worldfamous concert pianists. In the last 10 years we have had many pianists here, but the copies of the music which they have played would scarcely fill a small suitcase. Only about four of the Beethoven sonatas are heard, except for one man who went to the other extreme and played all 32. Even the Chopin literature is usually very restricted—and most of Schumann, Schubert, and even Mozart, is rarely heard from those pianists whose technical powers would enable them to give superb performances of neglected works. As for less well known composers, they, for the most part, need never have bothered to write at all.

All this is a great pity, and if pianists and concert managers think that only the familiar works will draw an audiece they are mistaken in that belief and do harm to the cause of music. It seems that a limited repertoire is not drawing very large houses anyway- —C.F.B.