{TABLE} Arabesque, Op. 18 .................. Schumann Four Impromptus, Op. 90 ............ Schubert Three Lullabies for Deirdre ........ John Buckley Sonata in B minor, Op. 58 .......... Chopin {/TABLE} IN the NCH John Field Room on Sunday Peter Katin gave the second recital in his tour of Ireland under the auspices of Music Network, a tour which ranges from Tralee in Co Kerry to Limavady, Co Derry.
The programme focuses on the early romantic movement and Katin shows how the emotional side of this music can be given more profound expression by controlled and limpid playing then by exaggerated rhapsodising.
Some pianists are so interested in colouristic effects that they tend to neglect the midrange of the piano in favour of the extremes from the excessively loud to the excessively soft.
Katin, on the other hand, produces an unusual beauty within a comparatively limited tonal range because he can divide it into so many levels.
He can make the transition from piano to mezzoforte seem an immense leap he can also make a slight variation in speed more cogent than a brilliant acceleration.
His talents brought out the full charm of Schumann's Arabesque and the delicacy with which he played Buckley's Lullabies was exemplary.
Nor was he less effective in Schubert's Impromptus and in Chopin's Sonata in B minor, combining a calm mastery of the florid passages with a subtle evocation of the spirit of yearning that infuses these works, in particular the slow movement of the Sonata.
