It’s salutary to reflect that, had he not died, Terence
Judd would still be only forty-five. His suicide in 1979 at the age
of twenty-two registered a similar weight of loss as had the much earlier
suicide of Noel Mewton-Wood. Both pianists’ talent could but have deepened
and broadened, even though their recorded legacy is significant and
enriching. In the case of Judd Chandos has been devoted to his memory
and this latest tribute, Volume 1 of their Homage, has notes by compiler
Bryce Morrison and as its centrepiece the Liszt Sonata. The compilation
includes BBC broadcasts and performances from Judd’s blazing Moscow
Competition recital and the hour’s worth displays a formidable technical
armoury, expressive qualities to match, considerable colouristic flair
and a strong temperament.
The Sonata in B minor was recorded in Moscow in 1978
at the Competition Finals (as were La Campanella and the Chopin Etude).
It receives a powerful reading, romantic and expressive in the Recitativo,
with clarity and wit in the Allegro energico that burgeons into
drama and flame – some awesome playing here. Then again there is the
almost preternaturally mature Liszt playing of the twenty-one year old
in the Più mosso or the way in which he flecks the treble
with audacity and beauty in the Stretta quasi presto. He layers
depth in the Lento assai to moving effect. His credentials are
further cemented by the intensity and rapture of his playing of Sposalizio
and the drama of La Campanella – albeit some is too rushed. The fearsome
leaps at such a fast tempo are undoubtedly exciting – this is live wire
playing after all, at an international competition – but a little uncomfortably
so. He is powerful but equally playful in the csárdás
of the Hungarian Rhapsody. If I find his Chopin playing on this showing
somewhat inferior to his Liszt it’s mainly to do with elasticity of
tempo, because it’s otherwise sensitive playing – and his Debussy comes
as a reminder that Judd was not simply a powerhouse virtuoso, remaining
sensitive to colour and nuance and acute levels of arm weight.
There is much to regret in Judd’s early death but much
remains to show not simply what a musician he could have become but,
rather, what a musician he already was.
Jonathan Woolf
Terence Judd (piano)