Louis Lortie (piano) Waltzes at Wigmore Hall
12 April 2005

Schubert 12 Valses nobles D.969 (a selection) 34 Valses sentimentales D.779 (a selection)
Schubert/Liszt Soirées de Vienna No. 6 from 'Valses caprices d’après Schubert' S.427
Berlioz/Liszt Second movement from 'Symphonie Fantastique'
Liszt Quatre valses oubliées S.215 (Nos.1 & 2)
Gounod Valse from 'Faust'
Lachenmann 5 Variations on a Theme of Schubert
Ravel Valses nobles et sentimentales & La valse

An intriguing recital programme which failed to be quite as illuminating as hoped. Lortie gave some charming inflections to Schubert's domestic offerings, but they were too robust, and generally too loud, to be characterised in period, and I was longing for the sound of a fortepiano, or of Schuchter's "sweet-toned Bösendorfer"*.

The Berlioz arrangement served to remind me how wonderfully the composer scored his waltz movement for orchestra; the Liszt valses oubliées were fleet-fingered and pleasing, but the recital really only took off with the grandiose Gounod arrangement, which was delivered with virtuosity and in great style.

The second half was played straight through as a group, and Lachenmann's piquant early Variations on a Theme of Schubert was a welcome novelty, even though - for this composer - completely non-abrasive. The Ravel items took the recital onto an altogether higher plane. Not a popular work by any means, his Valses nobles et sentimentales held the audience spellbound and completely silent with Lortie's tonal refinement and exquisite control - rarely can a piano have sounded more beautiful in Wigmore Hall. The single-piano version of La Valse demonstrated that Ravel is a nonpareil arranger of his own music, whether from piano to orchestra or vice-versa. A dazzling conclusion to the scheduled programme, before a quiet Debussy waltz as encore brought us down to earth from the heady intoxication of Ravel's apotheosis of the Viennese waltz.

* - - an entirely delightful intégrale of the complete Schubert solo piano works, played idiomatically and with evident affection by Gilbert Schuchter (1919-89) - - joy of joys, Schuchter is recorded on a sweet-toned Bösendorfer, just right for this music. Tudor 741-752

This Lortie recital was broadcast live on BBC R3, and can be heard for a week on their Listen Again, but that invaluable facility is compromised by streaming at c. 45 kpbs as received via broadband on my computer, not good enough for serious listening.