Sterling Stanev

I did attend the Liszt recital of Vesselin Stanev at St John's Smith Square, London, on 13 March 2015. The acoustics in this venue are good, but the chairs uncomfortable, as though in a school hall, and the crowd seemed to wander around and whisper a lot. Last time I saw Stanev, again in Liszt, I had some doubts about the evenness and smoothness of touch in the playing of quieter runs in the treble, but I thought this time the Reminiscences de Norma was fine in this regard, though he remains one of the more aggressive masters.

Some of the sections sounded a bit random in their noisy bits, possibly because the structure was not immediately apparent to an ear not accustomed to the piece, which may be a criticism of the ear, or perhaps the composer, rather than the performer. The most effective piece was of course the Annees de Pelerinage Italian section, with an epic quality and nice clear themes.