Nocturnes: Op 27 No 2; Op 9 No 1 - Chopin
Ballade No 2 in F, Op 38 - Chopin
Waltzes: Op 69 No 2; Op posth in E minor - Chopin
Mephisto Waltz No 1 - Liszt
Un Sospiro; La Campanella - Liszt
Sonata in B minor - Liszt
Chopin and Liszt are the two composers who wrote most in the grain of the piano; it is impossible to conceive of them without that instrument. And in Vladimir Ovchinnikov they have found an interpreter who not only knows the expressive demands of their music, but also has the technical mastery to translate the black dots on the score into ravishing sounds. He has an extraordinary delicacy of touch which enables him to divide the distance between very loud and very soft into infinitesimal gradations and thus enrich the texture; and his sense of timing kept the music perpetually poised so that the listener's attention never faltered.
Chopin's Nocturne Op 27 No 2 was distinguished by a metrical freedom, flowing yet controlled, which allowed the melody to sing its endless song and move from the plaintive to the profound in skilfully managed transitions. The two waltzes, in their subtle and pleasing exploration of the dance made the perfect foil to Liszt's astonishingly inventive Mephisto Waltz No 1. Ovchinnikov succeeded in making palpable some of the diabolic power that the composer must have hoped to convey, and the moment of silence before the penultimate section of the nightingale's song was placed with exquisite care.
Un Sospiro, sometimes a well-worn encore piece, was "seraphically free of taint of personality", and gave the lie to any who might think of Listz as primarily a showman; and La Campanella was played as the unashamed display of virtuosity that it is, a real joy to listen to. The famous Sonata in B minor positively gained in stature from Ovchinnikov's performance in the NCH on Thursday and seemed to embrace the experiences of a lifetime.
