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SEEN AND HEARD UK CONCERT REVIEW
Bach/Busoni, Beethoven, Brahms: Llŷr Williams (piano) Wigmore Hall, London, 22.9.2010 (CC)
I believe I have not heard Llŷr Williams in a live recital before. Trained at Oxford University (Queen’s) and then the Royal Academy of Music, he has an international career and has recorded for Signum Records (on which label he recently released a disc of Mussorgsky Pictures,
the Debussy Estampes and three short works by Liszt: SIGCD 226). Williams is clearly an intelligent musician, and his programming was excellent: the Bach/Busoni
Chaconne and the “Waldstein” in the first half, followed post-interval by an all Brahms second half (Opp. 117 and the
Handel Variations).
It appeared initially that the sometimes difficult Wigmore acoustic had claimed another victim. From the very last row of seats, Williams’ opening sounded harsh, plonky and uncomfortable to listen to. Despite one impressive invocation of an organ sonority later on in his reading and some impressive (but not necessarily involving) scalic work, for the rest this was a generally workaday account with little tension or sense of the monumental.
The same impression of chords lacking legato connection was present in the first movement of Beethoven’s “Waldstein” sonata. Worse, Williams’ basic tempo for the first movement seemed mobile, so the pulse was periodically lost. The
Introduzione to the finale exhibited a good sense of exploration, a brief moment of hope before a finale lacking in tension returned us to the world of the first movement. A light-fingered coda was not enough to compensate for a general feeling of being short-changed.
The second half was a little better. The mood of the first of the Brahms Op. 117 Intermezzi was well maintained; however the major mode panel of the second failed to make its effect; similarly, drama was lacking in the third. The best playing of the evening came in the shape of the Brahms Op. 24 Variations and Fugue on a theme of Handel. Williams projected the work’s structure well while honouring the characters of the individual variations. Brahmsian melancholy was particularly memorable. A pity the fugue sounded too crowded too soon. Nevertheless, it was this piece that will remain in the memory from this evening.
Colin Clarke