Review: John Lill at Town Hall, Stratford-upon-Avon

Jul 23 2010 By Christopher Morley

Before actually launching into the remarkable recital he gave at Stratford’s Midsummer Music Festival on Saturday,

John Lill gave us some fascinating insights into his methods whilst practising at the piano.

He works right down to the finest details, dissecting and reassembling them again and again, until everything is finely-honed to his satisfaction. And then the experience of performing to a live audience makes everything take off.

And didn’t this painstaking procedure pay off here, not least in an awesomely compelling account of Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata.

This is one of the works where we can really sense the composer struggling with the limitations of his contemporary instrument, and demanding of his soloist expertise beyond anything yet considered. Rippling figurations from end to end of the keyboard, an abundance of dynamic personality (the opening like the growlings of a caged lion), an unforced virtuosity which never drew attention to itself - these were all hallmarks of Lill’s performance which Beethoven would have admired so much in the service of this masterpiece.

Tensions were patiently built and gently relaxed, not least in the beatific celestial melody of the finale, delivered at a measured pace but always looking forward to the eruption of energy at the end, with C major affirmed as triumphantly as in Wagner’s Meistersinger (Welsh National Opera’s fabulous performance relayed by the BBC from the Proms, and caught on the radio on the way home, and then on the television).

This Waldstein was surrounded by equally persuasive readings: Mozart’s final Sonata, K576; Chopin’s powerfully narrative Ballade no.4; and Brahms’ epic Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel.

Rating: 5/5