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Beethoven, Schumann, Liszt: Boris Berezovsky (piano), Royal Festival Hall, London, 15.3.2008 (CC)


Boris Berezovsky has an enviable reputation as a latter-day keyboard titan, a title forged in the years since his Gold Medal victory at the 1991 Tchaikovsky Competiotion in Moscow. He is, truly, a pianist in the Romantic tradition and it is, clearly, in the Romantic tradition that he is at his best. So why, then, begin with Beethoven’s “Waldstein” Sonata?

I am not sure I have an answer. No doubting Berezovsky’s sterling finger dexterity in the first movement of Beethoven’s op.53, and the sound was laudably scaled, definitely not overblown. Yet this was obviously not Beethovenian playing, mainly because the overall impression was of Berezovsky trying to enable Beethoven to break stylistic constraints and somehow transform Beethoven into Liszt. The Adagio molto, though, was achingly lonely – probably an uncomfortable emotion for a sunny, Spring-like Sunday afternoon, because the audience was decidedly restless throughout. The emerging of the finale’s theme into daylight was, to damn with faint praise, nice – not illuminating, not magical, just pleasant. The speed was that which one would expect from a fully paid-up super-virtuoso. Not a hint of Allegretto moderato (which is what Beethoven prescribes but words like ‘moderato’ and qualifiers like ‘… etto’ presumably do not register in the virtuoso world), and not a hint of slowing for the more fiendish passages, either. Only the final Prestissimo (it was) was truly impressive, in its lightness. A programming error. It would have been much better if Berezovsky had played to his strengths – which, it turned out, is what he did for the rest of the programme.

The Schumann Davidbündlertänze needs to be aired more often. This is wonderful music, and here Berezovsky came into his own, taking in Schumannesque swagger (Book I/3) through simple (I/5 – he can do simple, it turns out), tender (I/7), stormy, humorous (in the manner of Horowitz) through to a real Innigkeit in the final pages. Sweet cantabile met virtuosity to leave a lingering impression. Berezovsky has recorded this piece (with the Op. 22 Sonata and the Toccata, on Warner).

The Liszt B minor Sonata is one of the great pinnacles of the repertoire. Why, then, were the staff of the Festival Hall still playing with the stage lighting as Berezovsky started the ominous bass descent that opens the work? Strangely, it clearly didn’t put the pianist off (it did me), as he delivered a superb account. Berezovsky’s expert pedaling was the most noteworthy element of his well-rounded performance which sat firmly in the Romantic tradition. Interesting to note how Berezovsky was very alive to the darker side of the score, and yet he did not make these sections point towards late Liszt (as Pollini does). Diablerie, delicacy and dynamism enmeshed as Berezovsky gave what was clearly the best performance of the afternoon. I have heard no other pianist live who takes Liszt’s demands so much in his stride. There were inevitable encores (two by Rachmaninov, one Chopin Waltz).

Colin Clarke


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