Beethoven : Piano Sonata Op. 53, "Waldstein"
Liszt : Douze grandes études, S. 137 - No. 9 and 12
Liszt : Venezia e Napoli, S.162
The rare chance to catch this great Turkish pianist for a lunchtime recital was not to be missed, so I duly made my way to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, amidst alternating bright and abysmally wet spells (really, you wouldn't put a bin-bag out in this weather, never mind any living creature!), and spent a very enjoyable hour there.
The first thing that I noticed was the clarity of Biret's pedalling. The Beethoven was very cleanly articulated throughout, and she eschewed the habit some pianists have of pedalling so that in the last movement, the repeated first notes of the rondo melody are left to hang in the air like a bell sounding. I've nothing against that in principal, it's just that it's very hard to do correctly, and I've heard quite a few come a cropper with it, blurring the rest of the texture. That was certainly not an issue here. The tempo overall was very measured - I would have liked something a little fleeter for the last movement - and the slow movement could have been a bit more introspective, but otherwise this was good, clear, mature Beethoven, delivered without fuss, or overladen with Romantic sentiment.
The Grandes études are the second version of what was to become the Transcendental Studies. In many respects, they are more difficult to play than the final version, but they are also, broadly speaking, less compelling musically. On the other hand, since we don't get to hear them that often, it made for a refreshing change. Here too, where it's so easy to let the complexities of Liszt's writing drown in a mush of over-pedalling, Biret kept her sound clear and distinct, even when the layer upon layer of harmony in No.12 (later known in much truncated form as Chasse-neige) began to tax the RCS's slightly hard-sounding Steinway to its limits, and Biret's actual technical precision too. However, it's impossible to play these pieces note-perfectly in concert, what matters is the expressivity. As I said, the concert grand in use struck me as a bit hard in tone, which did not help, but her focus and commitment to the piece was quite sufficiently convincing.
She proceeded without a break into the trilogy of Venezia e Napoli, notable for a particularly beautiful Gondoliera, all shimmering light-on-water and subtle, flexible rhythm. It was rather a slow reading, and in some ways quite idiosyncratic, but I felt it worked extremely well. The central Canzona was a trifle portentous, but the final Tarantella was, again excellently articulated, just a touch diabolic, and properly exhilarating. The encore was a wonderfully light, impish Gnomenreigen, flickering and evanescent. A very satisfying way to spend a Monday lunchtime.
[Next: 16th May]
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