Konstantin Scherbakov at King's School

By WILLIAM DART

There was a time, not so long ago, when New Zealand was on the circuit for quality recitals by top-rank international artists.

As recently as the 1980s, we had the opportunity to hear some of the visiting NZSO soloists by themselves on the concert stage but, in the past decade, the recital has become a rarity. Thanks to a new organisation, Viva Piano, which brought us Pascal Roge earlier this year, Auckland is able to experience a return visit from Konstantin Scherbakov.

Scherbakov is one of the fearless brigade, with a particular yen for the virtuoso transcriptions.

Without too much ado, on a relatively modest instrument in the J.R. Fletcher Auditorium at King's School, the Russian pianist launches into Busoni's magnificent account of the Bach D minor Chaconne.

He catches to perfection the balance of rhythmic freedom and unfettered virtuosity that you can hear in Busoni's own playing.

Scherbakov is curiously undemonstrative when it comes to Schubert's Opus 90 Impromptus. The opening C minor work is less expansive than some pianists would have it and the lyrical beauties of the G flat major piece are similarly restrained.

His crisp articulation and carefully modulated dynamics are essentially those of a classicist.

Liszt's version of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is more than just a simple transcription.

Liszt was an ardent polemicist, likening Beethoven's music to the pillar of cloud and fire which guided the Israelites through the desert.

His ambitious arrangements of the nine Beethoven symphonies were intended as a tribute to the composer and an exploration of the instrument.

This particular arrangement, one of the first of the set, would have allowed Liszt to take Beethoven's music into territory where no orchestra was available.

The ingenuity of the composer is matched by the unerring technique of a charismatic pianist.

In the first movement, machine-gun octaves crumble before delicate slivers of colour while Scherbakov luxuriates in the massive chords of the development.

Elsewhere, he evokes worlds beyond Beethoven. The slow movement, with subtle pedalling and voicing, comes across as Schumann-esque, while the Finale is delivered with a Slavic flair that makes it pure Liszt.