Orage Vallee d'Obermann, Harmonies du soir, Les jeux d'eau a la Villa d'Este, Rapsodie espagnole - All by LisztKrystian was impressive in his all-Liszt piano recital at the National Concert Hall's John Field Room last Friday lunchtime. However, for several reasons, his playing did not communicate enough of those qualities which can make this composer's music extraordinarily exciting, even transcendent.
The recital showed plenty of technical security, musical intelligence and imagination. Belliere is a true interpreter, for each piece came across with a tangible though not over-literal sense of the extra-musical metaphors and images which inspired it.
Textures were stratified and coloured in an almost orchestral way, and especially in parts of Vallee d'Obermann, Les jeux d'eau a la Villa d'Este and Rapsodie espagnole, the mixing of tones was sumptuous. This technical ability was never an end in itself, for musical and expressive purposes were kept firmly in sight, and each event seemed significant.
Paradoxically, that was one of the reasons why the overall effect of this recital did not live up to the promise offered by the player's abilities and insights. Liszt's style has its origins partly in his legendary skills at improvisation, and for him display was almost as important for composition as it was for performance.
This recital was too knowing, too considered for such music. There was plenty of energy, but it tended to come across as over-controlled, as wanting in that Mephistophelean side for which the composer, as well as the music, is famous.