Wednesday, November 18, 2009

On a dreary Lakeland day Kendal Midday Concert Club welcomed the Czech pianist, Libor Novacek; “he was cold, missing the warm Spanish sunshine he had recently been enjoying”. Pianists hate cold fingers – they impart sluggishness to a performance and a resultant mental dissatisfaction: “he hoped he would warm up as the hour progressed”.

Warm up he did! His programme – a vehicle for the display of superb pianism – brought exhilarating readings of Haydn’s Sonata in C, No. 60 and a selection of eight Debussy Préludes - it would surely be difficult to find two such diametrically opposed composers.

Haydn demands classical refinement – elegant phrasing, rhythmic command, crisp attack, virtuosic articulation, attention to chord-voicing and balance, tonal variety – Novacek delivered on every count.

In his impressionistic Préludes Debussy asks for each of those plus the ability to create atmosphere: special use of the sustaining pedal to blur outlines, immediate tonal contrasts, freedom of tempi and rhythm,  deftness of touch et al. Again, Novacek delighted.

All too soon three Janáček miniatures (from “An Overgrown Path”) brought this engaging concert to its end.

by Brian Paynes.

Kendal Midday Concert Club