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Mozart, Schoenberg, Schubert, Chopin:  Jonathan Biss (piano). Wigmore Hall, 2.4.2009 (CC)


Two days before Biss walked on stage at the Wigmore, Kirill Gerstein gave a (mixed) recital at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, so it was interesting to be able to compare two young men whose careers are on the up at the moment. Biss, of course, boasts an EMI contract and his recordings have so far been very well received by the press.

Biss took a little time to acclimatise himself to the piano though, surely something that should have been achieved before the concert?. The tell-tale sign was a couple of notes that failed to sound in the exposition of the Mozart C minor Sonata, K457 and which returned to consciousness on the repeat. Overall, Biss’ reading of the first movement was a fiery and convincing one. A pity, then, that the central Adagio sounded forced at first. As it progressed, the music seemed to come into focus. This was good but certainly not outstanding Mozart.

On the Tuesday, Gerstein had given Schoenberg’s Op. 11 Klavierstücke and underwhelmed. Biss opted for the Sechs kleine Klavierstücke, Op.19, and triumphed. He was very alive to the elusive nature of this music, especially in the staccati dyads of the second piece, and its thrillingly stabbed sforzandi. Given Schoenberg’s stated allegiance to his Viennese predecessors, the move back to Schubert should be seamless. Biss chose a ‘torso’ sonata, the bimovemented C major, D840, the so-called “Reliquie’. Biss’ reading was intelligent and finely nuanced, but missed the depth the finest Schubert interpreters regularly find here. In compensation, Schubert’s obsessive way with his motifs came through – even against the uncomfortable counterpoint of a mobile alarm, at one point. The second movement, a cortege-like Andante, came off better.

There was an all-Chopin second part to the concert. Biss avoided over-pedalling in the Op. 60 Barcarolle, taking things to the opposite extreme. Expert filigree did not make up for the lack of atmosphere; better were the three Mazurkas of Op. 59. The famous Op. 59/3, in particular, seemed to include a wide emotional range in its short duration. A Nocturne (D flat, Op. 27/2) was well shaped, enabling the climax to make its mark. The final item, the fourth Ballade (F minor, Op. 52) was fluid but not structurally coherent, as well as containing some uncharacteristically approximate, fudged passages.

The encore was the slow movement of Mozart’s K545 sonata, here a beautiful gem that made one wish he could have played all of K457 to this standard.

Colin Clarke


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