Éva Polgár is a very accomplished pianist. She is also a very fine musician. There is a difference. Ms. Polgár’s solo recital at Óbudai Társaskör (Oct 22nd) was something of a mixed bag.
The very best of players can come unstuck in live performance, and it has to be said Ms. Polgár’s recital had a couple of rocky moments. She began with Haydn’s G major Sonata, Hob.XVI, No.39, with a performance which seemed to be looking for clarity somewhat at the expense of emotional commitment and warmth of feeling. The opening allegro was a touch too fast and the great tenderness of the slow movement would have benefited from more rubatto and greater attention to dynamics. The finale was suitably brisk and she recovered quite well from a lapse mid-movement but it really was not Haydn at his best.
Four of Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words followed. This was altogether of a higher order with some very fine technique and sensitivity to emotional tone. A slight slip in the second one (G minor from Op.53) was recovered almost unnoticed. Certainly she seemed more at home with this music. More Haydn, the C major Fantasy Hob XVI, No.4 suited her better than the sonata and came over well although, again, something was lost in the briskness of tempi. The E flat Polonaise of Weber is, so the program note tells us, something of a rarity and are we really surprised? It is a good showpiece and Ms. Polgár played it with suitable panache but it is hardly a masterpiece.
The best, however, was yet to come. The Bartók (3 Burlesques, Op.8c) was truly to be savoured. This is Ms. Polgár’s natural territory, wonderfully subtle variation of pace framed by powerful rhythmic vitality and matched with superb technique – undoubtedly the highlight of the evening. She closed her official program with more Mendelssohn – the Variations Sérieuses – in a sharply focused and disciplined performance which gave the music room to breathe while not losing sight of the formal structure (if only she had done that with the Haydn sonata). Ms. Polgár had done enough to be called back for more and it has to be said that, in the end, she deserved it.
The program was something of a mixed bag and maybe this is a problem – in trying to be all things to all people there is a danger of falling between two stools. She certainly seems more at home in the romantic repertoire, and her brief foray into the twentieth century found her at her absolute best. Playing to ones strengths is sometimes good policy.
There is a very fine line between being a good musician and a great one. Ms.Polgár has a remarkable talent and one expects to hear a great deal more of her. Greatness may be a quantum leap away, or maybe it is just round the corner, but the omens are good.