PADEREWSKI'S RECITAL

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 134, 10 June 1927, Page 10

PADEREWSKI'S RECITAL

•A MEMORABLE OCCASION

31. T?aderewski should have felt content with his reception at the Town Hall last night. The audience was large, keen, and listened to him for nearly two hours and a half with rapt attention. Over 20 years ago the great pianist came this way before, since when the young generation has reached middle age and those who were adults then, like himself, have mellowed and parted with most illusions. Paderewski, in the compilation of the programme for last night's recital showed great consideration for his hearers, for there was scarcely one number played with which most persons fond of music at all were unfamiliar and every number was known to all who have intimate knowledge of it. for inKnnh'' rr e ProtFamme was opened with Bach s Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue sonX * J? f"*™*'* "Appassionato" sonata, which was succeeded by Schumann> "Carnival," then a perfect feart of Chopin, and concluding with Liszt's Rhap. orfes" of °SS« 6 Ni?-> U ( - Those whose agones ot Paderewski's former visitation are clear enough to enable them to compare h IS art and skill of then with his performance to-day will probably be found to ag™e that he was aged, but only as a precious wine ages. His tone is ineffably beauUful his technique wonderful in its perfection "« f^e suggestive of rubies in their" fire" and. brilliancy. Bach, as he played ont Zlt above:mentioned, seemed like thL ti he m^ 0T ProPhets speaking through the medium of the player Tht nighty work as it proceeds depicts for! ditterent mmds different ideas, but it docs ' not seem irreverent to liken ■ the fanfaSS as Paderewski played it last night to vast masses of Cumulus seen at noon in midJnZ' ft sat spellbound as the glories of the work were displayed by the master at^the pianoforte. The change from Bach to Beethoven was momentous; l'aderewski seemed to leao* his entranced hearers from contemplation of the im. mense structure of the one to look unon something that was the handiwork cZ ceived by a truly noble mind, a reconstruction of a sort of Parthenon in music. The Appassionata has been described by authorities as the greatest of all sonatas, and r m/[ y ,c.so; but ite importance is not for the laity to settle. They may know what they like, but may not be competent' to assign the work its place in music \ll however, .the musically cultured and the musically inclined, can marvel at the use Beethoven made of two little phrases and the beauties with which he invested them It was here that the greatness of Paderewski s interpretation was fully disclosed His masterful interpretation of Beethoven and his moods was made deeply impressive ihose little phrases, like those of the decorations of the Greek Temple already referred to, were never lost night of, for all the imposing character of the work In the Bach and Beethoven numbers as Paderewski played them the occasion seemed far less of a recital than'of a great religious service. The contrast of these numbers was striking when Paderewski played Schumann's singularly graphic "Carnival, which he did -with all the joy and frolic,' humour and refinement imaginable True, the audience was brought down to earth, but it was the earth of youth and fancies, as compared with the spiritual realities which the Fantasia and Sonata betokened. '

Time was getting on when Paderewski led his audience into the .emotional realm of Chopin.- Here he seemed to make them tell the confidences of Chopin, to be sympathetic listeners to his sorrows, to be participators in his joys. The programme numbers were Nocturne in G Major (Op. 37); Mazurka in B Minor (Op. 33); Waltz in C Sharp Minor,' Etude in G Flat (Op 25)>.and Scherzo in B Flat Minor. With all the finish expected of him Paderewski played these and more also as one on the closest terms of sympathetic but catldid friendship with the composer. Half-way through the Chopin series Paderewski had so worked up the interest of his hearers that they were unrestrained in expressing admiration for his display of many moods of Chopin, his irony, anger, scorn, placidity., agitation,;.remorse, and .enchantment.! The tax of all this on the mental and phy-j sical resources of Paderewski must have been great, but it was not apparent; but the audience seemed glad to relieve its pent-up emotions in applause, and to welcome the contrast of Paderewski's own Legend, in A Flat, with its simple yet appealing melody. The Liszt Rhapsody was pure Liszt in its imposing and essentially rhapsodic performance, a fitting tinale to a great programme. But in the matter of extras Paderewski was bountiful, and he followed this rhapsody with Liszt's tremendous conception and treatment of the love theme in Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde."

It was a memorable recital in every respect, one not to be forgotten even when the outlines ■of many subsequent experiences shall have become blurred, indefinite. To-morrow night Paderewski will be heard in the "Moonlight" Sonata of Beethoven, and other numbers with which .most people with a taste'for the best iv music are more or less familiar. , To-morrow night's programme will include: Fantasia and Fugue G Minor (BacliLiszt); Sonata C Sharp Minor, Op. 2", '"Moonlight" (Beethoven); Impromptu B Flat, Op. 142 (Schubert); Impromptu A Flat, Op. 142 (Schubert); Serenade, "Hark, Hark the Lark" (Schubert-Liszt); Erl-king (Schubert-Liszt); Ballade G Minor (Chopin); Nocturne D Flat Major, Op. 27 (Chopin); Two Etudes, No. 10, 5, Op. 10 (Chopin); Valse A Flat, Op. 34 (Chopin); Chant Dv Voyageour (Paderewski); Nocturne E Racuse (E. Schelling); Rhapsodic Hongroise, No. 2 (Liszt).