The public’s perception of the career of Leslie Howard in the past 20 years or so has been dominated by the astonishing achievement of his dedication to the music of Liszt, culminating in the thus far 98 CDs of the composer’s complete solo piano music released on the Hyperion label. But the range of Leslie Howard’s prodigious interests is much greater than specialising in Liszt, as was demonstrated by his solo recital at the Wigmore Hall on 24 April. The programme, entirely of Russian music, drew a very large audience indeed. They were rewarded by playing of the highest order, as those who have followed Leslie Howard’s recent career have come to expect.
The first half began with rarely heard pieces by Balakirev and Borodin and ended with Glazunov’s First Sonata of 1901. The second half was all Rachmaninov, the three posthumously published pieces from 1917 to the original version of the Second Sonata of 1913. Throughout, Leslie Howard played with the greatest possible strength and delicacy, allied to a profound musical grasp of the music he had chosen. At times, especially in the Glazunov and Rachmaninov pieces, the audience must have felt it was uncannily present at the very acts if creation. It is rare for a Wigmore Hall audience to give an artist ovations at the end of both halves of a recital but the extended cheers and standing applause which greeted Leslie Howard’s projection of these works was exceptional in concert going terms and fully deserved.
Robert Matthew-Walker
Musical Opinion 2007
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