{TABLE} Sonata in B minor Hob XVI: 32 ............... Haydn 3 Nocturnes ................................. Field Bagatelles Op 126 ........................... Beethoven Variations on Ah, vous dirai-je maman K265 .. Mozart Moonlight Sonata ............................ Beethoven {/TABLE} OF the two recitals which survived cancellation in the Humewood Opera Festival, the second, given by pianist John O'Conor last Saturday evening, had nothing to do with opera. The performer chose an undemanding programme of works from the later decades of the 18th century and the earlier ones of the 19th, framing shorter pieces by Field, Beethoven and Mozart with sonatas by Haydn and Beethoven.
The repertoire was well chosen for the occasion after all, a piano recital in a tent is not an everyday occurrence. The pieces on offer were handled in a way that strained neither the acoustic nor the small Kawai grand piano that was being used.
O'Conor took a more interventionist interpretative approach in the Haydn sonata (where his expressive hesitations came to seem mannered) than in the Beethoven, which flowed with greater naturalness and ease.
There was mannerism of rubato, too, in the Field nocturnes, though, judging from some comments I could hear around me, the added periodicity of regularly prolonged downbeats, is a characteristic that can be found appealing in this slender music.
The Mozart variations with that most recognisable of themes (known in this part of the world as Twinkle, twinkle, little star) found the performer in capricious form about ornamentation, leaving out some that was written in, and adding a lot that was not.
The most rewarding music making was to be found in the late set of Beethoven Bagatelles, which were done in a lightweight but always persuasive manner.
