How refreshing to hear one of the Mozart sonatas amid all the pianistic heavy lifting. Their simplicity is deceptive; in their own way, they’re as indicative of a pianist’s skill as the knuckle-busting technical showcases that dominate competition programs, requiring clarity of both mind and fingers. Lifits got it–his performance of the D Major K. 311 was wonderfully clear and balanced, his judicious ornamentation cleanly executed and his phrases nicely shaped. The best parts of it seemed just right, as though they didn’t even have his fingerprints on them. But he indulged in a bit of rubato in the second movement and a bit more in the third, which he began fairly slowly to begin with, compromising the momentum.

The flexibility of tempo wasn’t a major problem in the Mozart, but it took its toll on the Schumann Op. 17 Fantasie. There was much to love about Lifits’ Shumann: it had a lovely sound, and it was full of heart-rending pianissimos, great arching lines and poetic ruminations. But he frequently ruminated when he should have been pushing forward, if not dancing–especially in the rhythmically ill-defined second movement, which Schumann intended to be energetic throughout. The vagueness persisted through the last movement, and after a point I couldn’t keep from focusing on it, though I wanted to like the performance as much as the Bass Hall audience evidently did.

James McQuillen

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 24th, 2009 at 4:33 pm and is filed under Screening Recitals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.