Piano Sonata in A, D959 - Schubert
Red Shoes - Marian Ingoldsby
Images, Book 1 - Debussy
Isoldens Liebestod - Wagner (arr. Liszt)
Mephisto Waltz No 1 - Liszt
It is always of interest to see how a young pianist will approach the repertoire not only in his selection of pieces but also in his treatment of them. Perhaps not surprisingly Liszt's Mephisto Waltz No 1, with its mixture of feeling and bravura and its colourful narrative, made an instant appeal in David Larkin's confident and dextrous performance in the John Field Room on Tuesday.
Debussy's Images, Book 1, which demand a more rarefied type of projection, were played with a combination of delicacy and strength that made them sound, unexpectedly, more up to date than Marian Ingoldsby's Red Shoes of more recent date. This piece, however, to do it justice, made clever use of piano sonorities, and its rather angular melodies were attractively presented.
David Larkin's choice of Schubert's late Piana Sonata in A was an ambitious one, and in his programme notes he has indicated the effects he is seeking. The first movement is "epic in its representation of the struggle between the various tonalities . . . the abiding impression is one of grandeur and tension". In his anxiety to realise his vision it seemed to me that he was led to exaggerate the grandeur and lose the tension. The lyrical elements were most charming but at too great a remove from the epic for there to be a sense that both came from one source.
