Murray Perahia
Murray Perahia in recital, Barbican Hall, London, 23 April 2007
Right, so need I say that Murray Perahia is awesome..... Monday saw his return to the Barbican, following last year's cancelled recital due to recurrent problems with a hand injury. An inflammation in the hand during the 1990s forced him away from the piano for a number of years, during which he supposedly drew great inspiration from listening to Bach. True or not, he has subsequently given us some of the most sublime recordings of Bach's keyboard works.
It was thus unsurprising that he should choose to start the evening with Bach's C minor Partita which, although marred by a few mistakes, was remarkable for its clarity. Watching someone play Bach is always nerve-racking, because it requires mathematical precision and there's simply no room for error. Under Perahia's hands, you can hear every single note of every single voice, no matter what finger, what tempo or what dynamic.
He was nevertheless far more comfortable with Beethoven's Pastoral Sonata, his best piece of the evening. This was followed by Schumann's Fantasiestück, a piece I'm not so keen on. But Chopin's Ballade No. 2 was amazing, and followed by a breathtaking Chopin as an encore.
On a completely random note (no pun intended), Murray Perahia kinda reminds me of Jacques Pepin. I can imagine he might make a good chef, although he seems a bit too mild-mannered. I wonder how Jacques Pepin would do at the piano......
Right, so need I say that Murray Perahia is awesome..... Monday saw his return to the Barbican, following last year's cancelled recital due to recurrent problems with a hand injury. An inflammation in the hand during the 1990s forced him away from the piano for a number of years, during which he supposedly drew great inspiration from listening to Bach. True or not, he has subsequently given us some of the most sublime recordings of Bach's keyboard works.
It was thus unsurprising that he should choose to start the evening with Bach's C minor Partita which, although marred by a few mistakes, was remarkable for its clarity. Watching someone play Bach is always nerve-racking, because it requires mathematical precision and there's simply no room for error. Under Perahia's hands, you can hear every single note of every single voice, no matter what finger, what tempo or what dynamic.
He was nevertheless far more comfortable with Beethoven's Pastoral Sonata, his best piece of the evening. This was followed by Schumann's Fantasiestück, a piece I'm not so keen on. But Chopin's Ballade No. 2 was amazing, and followed by a breathtaking Chopin as an encore.
On a completely random note (no pun intended), Murray Perahia kinda reminds me of Jacques Pepin. I can imagine he might make a good chef, although he seems a bit too mild-mannered. I wonder how Jacques Pepin would do at the piano......
Labels: Bach, Barbican, Beethoven, Chopin, concerts, Jacques Pepin, Murray Perahia, music, piano, Schumann
posted by CCT at 1:52 pm
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