Farrell in Dunedin

New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 473, 16 July 1948, Page 10

Farrell in Dunedin

T is quite out of keeping, now, to offer any criticism of Richard Farrell with reservations as to his age. A prodigy is often indulged by lenient audiences on account of his tender age, and being nurtured too gently, grows up to be a disappointment when judged in comparison with his fellow-virtuosi. Nothing

of the sort can be said of Richard Farrell. He demands, by the maturity of his playing judgment by the most exacting standards, and it is accurate to say that by any standard he is a most compelling performer. The electric effect of his

tadio performance, its precision and vitality, were obvious signs that he will in time occupy one of the highest places in the ranks of concert celebrities. I certainly wished myself that he had chosen a "straight" Bach selection instead of the colossal Busoni arrangement of the Chaconne; and I could easily have done without the Chopin Sonata (one by Mo--zart or Beethoven would have been less of an incongruity after the Bach). But ‘T hailed the inclusion of the Hindemith, and find it heartening that this pianist likes playing the moderns. Whether we like them or not doesn’t matter; until ‘pianists include their works regularly in concert repertoires, audiences here can have little familiarity with them, and are therefore not capable of totally unbiased judgment.