MARK HAMBOURG

Evening Star, Issue 12101, 6 November 1908, Page 6

MARK HAMBOURG

Mark Hambonrgis second pianoforte recital! ‘ was given last night at His Majesty’s Theatre, and tire world-famous artist again 1 raised a fine audience to unbounded enthusiasm, admiration, aiid, wonder. Thiai elevation of thb listener may be somewhat! temporary in those respects, but very much j more lasting will be the elevation of musical i taste and appreciation which the hearing; of such a great performance must infallibly ; Eroduce. Those who have only heard Ham-, ourg on a previous visit wmlcp a grave miv ! take if tliey are., content to base their esti-! mate of lum on that—that is, supposing i there are any who, having once heard him,! are proof against the desire to hear him i again. Mr Hambourg comes to us with i matured.technique and matured tempera-! ment, and no other judgment can be passed ; but that he is great among the world's groat ( musicians and great players. Nothing: written for the pianoforte seems to present j technical difficulties to him, and his in- • terpretations are inspirational Among manofortc players he holds the place that. Heennan holds among'violinisto—rmpsocsbl! execution, directed by a master mind, that feels passionately, but never allows its expression of passionate feeling to become in. coherent. In addition, Mr Hambourg hfts tile physique and staying, power necessary for a player who essays unaided the task of i a long recital. Looked at merely as a | matter of muscle and memory', last'night’s t performance was stupendous. There was i no Beethoven on the programme, bnt almost . every other school of composition had a , type represented. The opening number ; was Handel's well-known ‘ Harmonious i blacksmith.’ An encore was demanded. ■ and Mr Hambourg gave another air and 1 variations, unmistakably Handclian, and | even more enrapturing than the other. Its ! superb rendering made one realise what an I effective composer for the pianoforte the j ancient and somewhat neglected Handel is j when liis works are interpreted by auch a j player. The ronala for the evening was I Chopin's B flat minor, and in this particu- j larly Hambourg defied criticism, and beg- : gared description. The great breadth of j the opening movement, the brilliance and ! lucidity of the scherzo, the moody sombre- * ness of the funeral march, and the short, j sudden whirlwind of the concluding presto ! were shaped into a perfect and complete whole. The presto, taken at lightning speed, contained some remarkable toort crescendo runs that thrilled and startled even more than the • rousing roll of the kettledrum. It has often been said of Hambourg that with his great power he can. produce orchestral effects from the piano, and he well exemplified it here and in almost unplayable vaise in A flat, which only a player with Hambourg V equipment may dream about tackling. Its' rendering made an - encore number a ncoee-1 sity. Other numbers were a pastorale by. Scarlatti, given with an indescribably dainty ' finish, followed by Paderewski’s ‘ Capritcio ' a la Scarlatti,’ Schumann’s ‘ Des Abends,' : Mendelssohn’s ‘ Spinning song ’ (taken at; dazzling speed and vociferously encored), a barcarolle by Rubinstein, Hensell’s ‘ Ave ■ Maria,’ a prelude by Rachmaninoff, and to ■ conclude with the Schubert-Tansig ‘ March . militaire,’ which “ took ” as well as ever, : and had to be supplemented by Chopin's, familiar “ black key ” etude. And all: through the playing was consistently fault- ■ less. To-night the final recital of the season is . to be held, when a splendid programme, in- ' eluding Beethoven's ‘ Sonata apasskmata,’ is to be given.