Piano Recital by Krystian Zimerman
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
Reviewed: July 2
It was a demonstration of ultra-refined technique from Krystian Zimerman at a packed Concert Hall on Sunday. Yet, for all his delicate control and crystalline touch, the Polish pianist left the impression of a keyboard aristocrat who brought out little passion in the music.
His style was best suited to Maurice Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales, which calls for a combination of clockwork-like order and sensitive poetry. A highlight was how Zimerman rounded off the work's seven short waltzes with a superb Epilogue, in which previous themes floated amid sparse, hazy chords. The moment's atmosphere was captured to perfection by Zimerman's improbably precise weighting of chords and dynamic shadings.
But Mozart's K330 Sonata, which opened the recital, was given a rather affected treatment. Although Zimerman played the many rippling runs with near impeccable clarity (except for some messy spots in the third movement) and his balance was well nigh faultless, his rubato was often unnatural and couldn't bring real sparkle to the performance. Then came the Ravel and George Gershwin's Three Preludes, which was played with prominently rhythmic bass-line, but the jazzy swing was otherwise wanting.