The Artist and the Music

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 375, 30 August 1946, Page 10

The Artist and the Music

WE are enjoying an unusual musical experience for New Zealand, Two fine pianists have arrived here so hot upon each other’s heels that comparison of their styles is not only possible but inevitable. The comparison is almost forced upon us in that Solomon has begun with a programme that includes works already played by Lili Kraus. This is not a bad thing at all, for music grows in the mind and lives in the heart, nurtured by familiarity, And when familiarity is: attained through such noble pianism as these two pianists can produce, the circumstance is even better still. To say that Solomon's "Waldstein"’ from 2YA the other night was the masculine counterpart of Lili Kraus’ interpretation is only part of the story. The player’s personality filters through the music however much he may attempt to (Continued on next page)

(Continued trom ‘previous page) defer to the composer. The music is always coloured, even when it is not discoloured, by the thought and feeling which re-creates. Lili Kraus brought out the fire and poetry of Beethoven. Strange as it may seem, there was more of Beethoven the man in her interpretation. Solomon gave us Beethoven the pianist in this the most pianistic of all the sonatas. His technique was brittle, the notes clear as glass, and gleaming as chromium. The sonata was impeccable but coldly austere. To depreciate either interpretation would be to exalt personal preference or prejudice at the expense of musical integrity. Comparisons are not always odious and an opportunity such as this reminds us that musical beauty has many subtleties and not even the composer himself could give us an absolute and final threedimensional picture,