Top pianist’s perfection on the ivories
A PIANIST whose mastery made New York headlines in March impressed an Ardrishaig audience.
Daniel Lebhardt, 23, played his first Scottish recital, with a masterclass for Campbeltown school pupils, at the beginning of the month before moving up the peninsula for his date for Mid Argyll Arts Association (MAAA) in association with Argyll and Bute Concert Tours.
It was a gloriously sunny day which ended with a real treat when Hungarian Daniel Lebhardt, who the New York Times said ‘shows daring command’, took to the piano stool at Ardrishaig Hall.
Lebhardt is a a protégé of the Young Concert Artist Trust based in London.
By any standards Daniel’s programme was intensely classical in content. He opened with J S Bach’s Italian Concerto BWV 971, a standard three movement work with a slow meditative aria-like central movement bracketed by two fast movements. In both these he projected the rhythmic counterpoint with precision.
Next Lebhardt shifted down a notch to play Brahms’ too-rarely performed Op.118, a set of six contrasting pieces written late in his life. Daniel brought out the retrospective and personal nature of these – particularly the tender emotion of the slower ones – with great sensitivity.
After the interval, Schubert’s Impromptu in C minor Op.90 with its repeated triplets and oscillations between the major and minor keys was given the Lebhardt treatment.
Finale
As a grand finale Lebhardt brought to his audience a true giant of the classical repertoire, Beethoven’s last piano sonata – No.32 in C minor Op.111.
The previous evening he had warmed up for his Ardrishaig performance, possibly practicing this piece when he played it for Kintyre Music Club.
This monumental two movement work is unashamedly taxing for soloist and listener and places huge demands on the pianist at both technical and mental levels.
It was a masterly interpretation with Lebhardt capturing his audience on this epic journey – the great struggles of the first movement and the sublime set of variations of the second. The last few variations with their constant ethereal trilling were truly other-worldly leaving one exhausted but at peace.
After that extraordinary journey it seemed almost sacrilegious to continue with an encore, but Daniel gave the audience a charming vignette by Bartok called Evening in Transylvania to round off a thoroughly enjoyable evening’s entertainment.
Having moved to London from his Budapest home six years ago, Daniel won the Royal Academy of Music’s prestigious Patron’s Award.
Lebhardt said: ‘I was very lucky to have a good courageous teacher who gave me difficult pieces early on.
He added: ‘Scotland is so beautiful and it is really brilliant to be here.’
MAAA’s next concert, The Da Vinci Piano Trio, is on November 5 at 3pm.