Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Samuel Barber's centenary could have been the opportunity for audiences to explore beyond the composer's popular Adagio, Knoxville and Violin Concerto. But it is December of the anniversary year now, and Barber has mostly been a road not taken. Double honour, therefore, to Leon McCawley for programming Barber as the climax of his Southbank piano recital and for proving that Barber's 1949 Piano Sonata deserves a more secure place in the repertoire too.
Wagner said that Brahms's Handel variations, which McCawley played before the interval, showed what could still be done with old forms by someone who knew how to use them. Much the same could be said of Barber's sonata, with its taut and well organised four-movement structure and its very Brahmsian use of a passacaglia and fugue. McCawley's playing, lithe and clear, was well-suited to bringing out the piece's architecture. His controlled virtuosity was a delight, too, especially in the second movement's light touch scampers. Earlier, McCawley gave an equally fascinating display of Barber's ability to adapt his lyric voice to the piano's demands in the 1955 Nocturne, a tribute to John Field.
It said a lot about McCawley's artistry that he was able to begin his recital by drawing the listener so immediately into the restrained and mysterious sound world of Jan�c?ek's In the Mist. The Brahms variations followed, played with an unusually light and athletic touch which was not wholly persuasive but nevertheless gathered momentum for the towering fugal conclusion. Chopin's four impromptus, often dismissed as salon pieces and rarely played as a group, completed an uncommonly interesting programme. Each follow an original path and the sinuous modulations of the F sharp impromptu were particularly beguilingly played.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/dec/03/leon-mccawley-review
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