This afternoon Garrick Ohlsson, the American Pianist and Chopin specialist gave a recital at Symphony Hall in Boston. I have heard him several times in the UK and this was the first time I had been to one of his recitals since I came to the USA.

Mr Ohlsson's programme included Beethoven's Sonata Op 31 no. 1, Liszt's Sonata in B minor, Chopin's Allegro do Concert, Three Waltzes, Nocturne in C minor Op 48 no 1, and the 2nd Scherzo in B flat minor, Op 31.

When he played the Beethoven, it was more like listening to an orchestra than a piano. The range of colour, dynamics and sounds he obtained from the piano were amazing. He played it beautifully. I was impressed by his good sense of rhythm in the 1st movement, melodic line and phrasing. He has a formidable technique.

The Liszt Sonata was a very impressive performance. He showed that he has a wide dynamic range from the quietest pianissimo to the loudest fortissimo, always well controlled. He can draw a huge sound from the piano, and this reminded me of Vladimir Horowitz's playing. One thing that was different about his performance was that in the slow and lyrical sections, he took the tempo slower than most, but it was extremely effective, and quite dreamy. He certainly knows how to build excitement! The performance was electrifying in places. The octave playing was tremendous, and at a hair raising speed. He captured the character Mephistopheles in the devilish fugue section very well. Very appropriate for Halloween weekend!

This was the first time I had heard the Allegro de Concert played in a recital. He plays Chopin beautifully as expected. The Allegro may have turned out to be Chopin's 3rd piano concerto, but Chopin decided against this. It certainly reminded me of the two concerti, Fantasy on Polish Airs and his other works for piano and orchestra. It has some lovely cadenzas with fast and light florid passages accompanying a beautiful melody, so typical of Chopin. It sounded almost improvisatory in places.

The first waltz he played was the "Minute Waltz" which he may well have played in a minute. I was impressed by the cantabile playing of the middle section most of all. The second waltz was the famous C sharp minor Op 64. Every time he played a repeat it was different. Sometimes he emphasized the melody, sometimes inner accompaniment notes, sometimes louder, sometimes at a faster tempo. This is what makes an interesting and enjoyable performance, and a musician great.

The Nocturne Op 48 No 1 was quite a moving and dramatic performance. He built the quiet march-like melody at the beginning into a big climax with powerful descending octaves. In the last part (where the right hand plays groups of 3 against 4 in the left hand with the chordal melody) he brought out the melody notes more than most people would, and kept the level of the chords supporting it down. This produced a very good effect, and it was interesting to hear it played slightly differently than usual.

In the Scherzo, it was a very brilliant performance, but he did a couple of unexpected things that I didn't care for too much. In a certain measure he slowed a particular phrase way down in tempo, probably for emphasis, and in another measure played a phrase faster than normal. To me it seemed a bit eccentric.

He was generous with encores. He played the Revolutionary Etude Op 10 No 12. Here again it was brilliant and exciting but I think it was too fast, and in places he came unstuck in the left hand with a few wrong notes in the swirling up and down note cascades that muddied the harmony.

He played a Mazurka in C sharp Minor which was very dance-like and an excellent performance. The third encore was the Etude Op 10 no 4 "The Torrent" which he tossed of as if child's play. It was played at a swift speed and was an exciting performance. The final (4th) encore was Scriabin's Etude Op 42 in F sharp minor. It reminded me of the "Flight of the Bumblebee" with its fast chromatic and nimble fingerwork. It only lasted about half a minute!

I went back stage to meet him and to get his autograph. I told him how much I enjoyed his performance and previous ones when I heard him in London. I also told him that attended a concert at the Royal Festival Hall (sometime in the 1970's) in aid of the International Piano Library, in which he played together with many other famous pianists (including Jorge Bolet, Gina Bachauer, Alicia Dellarocha, Shura Cherkasky, Victor Borge, and others). He performed in a hilarious comedy sketch with Gina Bachauer and Alicia Dellarocha. He was dressed up as Johan Sebastian Bach complete with wig and clothes of the 18th century, and Gina and Alicia were dressed up as little schoolgirls with platted hair wigs and frilly dresses. He sat in between them at the piano, pretending to be their teacher, and scolding them when they played wrong notes. They played something (by Mozart?) written for 6 hands on one piano! The audience was in hysterics. He remembered that well!

Return To Home Page