Concert Review

Mozart, Beethoven; Schumann. George-Emmanuel Lazaridis (piano) Wallace Collection, 23 July 2000-07-26

This Sunday morning recital was given by the young Greek pianist who had appeared at the Wallace Collection's re-opening celebration on BBC Radio 3, and had also been heard in the Purcell Room as one of the PLG Young Artists. On both those occasions he had played some of his own compositions, and I was relieved that he did not choose to do so again.

He started badly with an exaggeratedly mannered account of Mozart's lovely Rondo K.511. In a recent review of Haydn played on the fortepiano (Ronald Brautigan BIS 1093) I remarked that for music of this period, modern pianos had begun to sound anachronistic, and that I find the necessary adjustment to a Steinway unrewarding. Schumann's Fantasiestucke went better, though lacked the sort of delicacy and in-depth understanding that were brought to this composer by Andreas Boyde in his recent Schumann recital round the corner at Wigmore Hall and his Athene CD. Lazaridis made his best impression in a sound account of Beethoven's Op. 31/2 sonata, but neither the standard repertoire chosen nor the overall pianistic accomplishment added up to a significant recital.

Not quite up to the Wallace Collection Sundays usually reliable standard (see review of Bukac/Zenziper 9 July); the next series is scheduled for November.

Peter Grahame Woolf

 

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