PIANOFORTE RECITAL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2447, 28 April 1915, Page 9

PIANOFORTE RECITAL

BY MR. BAXTER BUCKLEY. The pianoforte recitals of Mr. Baxter Buckley are always interesting both to the student and the music-Jov-ing public generally. His programmes are well arranged aud carefully prepared, and seldom fail to attract large audiences. That which attended at the Concert Chamber last evening was more than satisfied with the fare provided, and there was no lack of appreciation as far as the recitalist was concerned. Mr. Buckley does not rely on any temperamental maces for the impression he creates. His style, or shall wo say, his characteristic, more inclines to an academic attitude towards the pianoforte, and whilst his work may not be ovor-imbued with poetical insight, it is always marked by a soundly-based intellectuality, and a mastery of technique, illustrated in his amazing digital speed and exactitude. His first bracket last evening was hardly interesting in a popular sense, but it showed a wide Catholicism in tasEo. It iiloluded the allegro movement from Handel's "English Suite," a Bach "Bouree" (arranged by SaintSaens)', a Scarlatti "Caprice" (transcribed by Paderewski), in which quaint harmonies, are woven round a dominant note in altissimo; and a Beethoven "Fantasia" (opus. 77), which was played with delightful freedom aud suavity. The second bracket included three very interesting fragments by Schumann, viz., "Whims" (a composition of erratic intervals), "Why?" aud "Night," a brilliant "Mazurka" by Chopin, and that .composer's remarkable "Ballade in F Minor. This latter work is in Chopin's best style. Initially a graceful ballad theme is given out with a guitar-like accompaniment, graduating into a dexterous interweaving of brilliant harmonies, and feathery runs trills, crisply and surely played. 'It was a notably fine performance and was rewarded with an outburst of applause, whicli produced an attractive'"Prelude" by Sapellnikoff. The interest wanned noticeably in the second half with the infusion of numbers of more melodious appeal.. One bracket included a new and d'elioiously spring-like "Prelude" by Percy Pitt, the richly Slavonic "Polishirelle" by the always arrestive Rachmaninoff (who at the latest was playing at Moscow in aid of the war fund), a very charming Caprice by. SaiutSaens based cn a simple air from' Gluck's. opera "Alceste," and a weird composition of ceaseless chromatic runs entitled "The Wind," by Alkan. The wind effect was suggested realistically enough, but the endless repetition of the same effect, without relief; became! tiresome. The piece, however, gave the pianist the-, opportunity to Show his tireless. pace and precision in the rap-idly-fingered passages. The encore was M'Dowell's "Ungarische Rhapsodie." The. final bracket consisted of Padorewski's bizarre "Cracovienne Fantastique,"the Liszt transcription of Schubert's "Hark, Hark the Lark," and the great Liszt "Polonaise in E," a giant work which called for more drain atio treatment than Mr. Buckley gave it, but it was the end of a long programme and allowances had to be made. | The vocalist of tho evening, was Mr. T. D.. Collins who was'unsteady in tone and time in Mozart's "Dalla sua Pace,".,but was heard to better advantage in ' Amy Woodforde Finden's unique songs "Less Thaii the Dust" and "Koshiuiri Song." Miss Esther Fisher acted as accompanist.