The indestructible
Earl Wild demonstrates once again why
he is held in such admiration with this
latest release from Ivory Classics,
a company that has at last given him
a deserved slew of recordings. In this
disc the recital forms a satisfying
arch, opening with the limpid beauty
of Wild’s Marcello arrangement and ending
with his concert encore bonanza, the
Mexican Hat Dance. I say limpid beauty
but that quite fails to convey the sheer
tonal allure that Wild cultivates from
his favoured Shigeru Kawai Ex Concert
Grand, a piano he has embraced recently.
The pleasing acoustic adds "cream"
to the music making, which is august
and noble, with chords weighted wonderfully
and the right hand tracery proclaiming
in every bar Wild’s status as Romantic
icon. His recital embraces two sonatas
at its core. Mozart’s well-known F major
K332 opens wittily with those flaring
basses lit with aplomb and the pointing
deliciously apt. His ornaments are effective
and attractive and his passagework gloriously
clear. Does he open this allegro with
slightly too much pedal? Such thoughts
tend to vanish when confronted with
playing of this calibre as we can happily
witness in the sensitivity of phrasing
of the Adagio and the sheer fluency
of the finale.
His Beethoven Variations
– no mean piece technically – causes
commensurately few problems. The difficulty
of the repeated notes is barely a burden
to Wild and he explores both the intensity
and drama of the piece with great reserves
of colour and naturalness of expression.
Nothing sounds at all forced or awkward.
His Balakirev joins one of several notable
recordings over the decades – Kentner’s
was one of the first and most commanding
– and does so with vibrancy and rhythmic
surety. In the direction from the first
movement’s Andantino to L’istesso tempo
Wild demonstrates both introverted tension
and joyous vivacity, qualities that
recur throughout the sonata, most especially
in the Mazurka – probably the standout
movement, even though it had earlier
had independent life as the Mazurka
No 5 in D. There’s great delicacy in
the Intermezzo and a buoyant song and
dance finale. Of the Chopin Impromptus
– which he plays with communicative
affection – it’s the F sharp major that
really takes the ear with its singing
grandeur and beautifully voiced lines.
The Fantasie-Impromptu is not far behind
– supple, crisp, with finely judged
rubati and a dreamy central panel. And
then to conclude, the riotous Mexican
Hat Dance, a knees up, hair down extravagance
of a transcription and a well deserved
conclusion to this admirable and generous
recital.
Jonathan Woolf
Earl Wild (piano)