THE CHERNIAVSKYS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 245, 11 July 1921, Page 9

THE CHERNIAVSKYS

ENTHUSIASM AT THE TOWN HALL. A notable trio and a remarkable concert could be the only verdict possible in the case of the farewell appearance here of tho Cherniavskys at the Town Hall on Saturday evening. Wizards in the nrt of making music a real sentient thing, they set themselves what was almost a severely classical programme, and aroused that brand of enthusiasm that is only witnessed once in a while. The Arensky trio was played with a masterly finish which delighted the audience. Mr. Leo Cherniavsky was never heard to better advantage than on Saturday evening, when he played the first movement of the Grieg violin concerto, which we have heard on more than one occasion recently. Violin nnd player beroino one in an extremely finished and intensely appealing performance of this fine movement. The "long drawn out sweetness” of Mr. Cherniavsky’<s tone is counterbalanced by his fiery spirit and acute sense of rhythm. The movement contains a wonderful cadenza, which would serve as a very severe test to any player's technique, hut it was child’s play to the soloist, whoso double stopping in harmonics were ns rare crystals. As encores Mr. iCherniavsky /played sordino a lilting rondo of Beethoven’s, and tho Schubert "Turkish March,” which in patrol stylo finishes on a high, dear harmonic note. Mr. Jan Cherniavsky elected to .play the Beethoven Sonata, known generally as the "Appassionata." It is a stupendously impressive and thoughtful work for the pianoforte, and the player transported, his audience by his brilliance, nervous force, and the grandeur of his conception. Tn his Chopin and Beethoven. Mr. Jan Cherniavsky impresses us as ono of the finest pianists that have ever been heal'd in Wellington. After three genuflections the player had' to return (o the keyboard, and instead of resting with a little study, lie dashed into the sonorous chords of Liszt’s Sixth Rhapsody, of which ho gave a positively dynamic exposition, playing the torrential octavo passage with a velocity and clarity that amazed and delighted all the pianistio students present. After this performance, tho player, wearing a wan smile. |ind to respond to still further adulation, and did so through tho tinkly delights of Stovenhagen’s ''Gavotte.” Mr. Mischel Cherniavsky, who was also in fine form, played the Adagio for a Haydn’s Concerto, Popper’s "Vito” and his lively "Taranteelo," and as encores Popper's "Gavotte” nnd "Tho Spinning Wheel.” The final trios were Thome’s "Andante Religiose.” Brahms’s "Hungarian Dance," most wonderfully played, find, as a graceful concession, tho "Barcarolle" from Offenbach’s "Tho Tales of Hoffmann.” The Chmniavskvs leave for Lyttelton this evening.