Pianist David Ward at St Matthew-in-the-City

By HEATH LEES

ST-MATTHEW-IN-THE-CITY, Auckland - Do low-key piano recitals exist any more? They used to. Good pianists coming to town would be adopted by enthusiasts who would make a hall, a piano and a couple of newspaper ads appear. On the night, there would be a full house, a nice feeling and enjoyable music for all.

Nowadays, concert-giving has become so professionalised that we expect top-class performers, purpose-built venues, perfect instruments, and dazzling repertoire.

David Ward's recital, mounted by the Ficino School, was of the old-fashioned type, and a reminder of its associated strengths and weaknesses.

Ward's commitment to the music was obvious from both his playing and spoken introductions.

Scorning the themed approach to programmes, he had chosen music which he himself enjoyed - Bach, and early 19th-century Vienna.

So, after a showy but sometimes bumpy toccata from a youthful Johann Sebastian, we moved to Haydn's popular D-major sonata, which Ward played with style, though again the rhythmic drive faltered here and there in the faster sections.

This drawback reappeared in the closing sonata, Mozart's K281 in B-flat, which the pianist played from memory, which led to expressive phrasing in the central andante amoroso but made the outer movements tense and fragile.

To be fair, Ward was being forced to deal with the limitations of an unyielding resident piano and the worst aspects of St Matthews on a week night - car-alarms erupting outside, screeching tyres, sirens ... the aural pollution we live with that makes dedicated concert venues a necessity.

Battling on, Ward triumphed in the most sociable music of his programme - three Beethoven Bagatelles and two Schubert Impromptus, the first of which was played with unhurried charm.