Search - Mozart, Balakirev, Mexican Hat Dance :: Earl Wild at 88

Magnificent Performances

John M. Cook | Astoria, NY United States | 05/06/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Earl Wild has always been the embodiment of "bravura" pianism; that quality that so far exceeds the technical challenges of a piece that the music leaps off the page and becomes a living, breathing entity. In this disc, Wild at 88 shows his amazing powers are undiminished. The spectacular technique, the incomparable ability to shade any passage with infinite nuances are forever young.In the Wild transcription of Marcello's Adagio, his rendering of the melody is heartbreakingly tender, simple and unforced. Too many pianists over the last twenty years have treated the Mozart F Major Sonata as a pretty-pretty roccoco salon piece. Wild here gives us a full-bodied treatment; the playing unhurried and fully realized. The Beethoven 32 Variations runs the gamut from ruminative and brooding one moment to savage and convulsive the next. Not having heard the Balakirev before, I'd have to call it a first rate performance of highly effective, but second-rate music. The A flat Impromptu of Chopin is performed with much red-blooded brio, although the playing in the latter part of the F# Major Impromptu becomes ultra careful. No matter. Wild's marvelous transcription of the Mexican Hat Dance is bound to keep many a conservatory student busy in despair over the next several years. Here, Wild is all over the keyboard, in grand style. The playing alternating between an explosive rhythmic propulsiveness and delicate, coy charm.It seems no exaggeration at this point to call Wild a national treasure. This CD with its superb sound is a must buy for all who care about the art of the piano. Magic like this doesn't come along every day. More's the pity."