<<  -- 2 --  Bill Newman    STYLE AND CONCEPT

Both Danny Evans, born in Norfolk, almost 17 years of age, and the 27 year-old miracle pianist Michelangelo Carbonara from Salerno, Italy, have already garnered the praises of the key international performing brigade, and the valuable exposures of prizewinning competitions, important radio broadcasts abroad, concert halls and -- in the case of the young Italian -- three record companies.

The Rosewood Steinway Grand for Danny looked much better than it sounded, yet the rather gritty dryness and opaque tone hardly affected his insightful readings. I detect perhaps a hero worship for Horowitz in the inclusion of Tchaikovsky's Dumka, which the great man recorded before any other contemporary had bothered to open the manuscript. There was lovely heartfelt poignancy here.

Mozart's Sonata K330 had a wonderful steadiness, clarity and gorgeous singing lines in the central Andante cantabile. But the young man's mastery of architectural growth, rhythmic poise and various stylistic understanding came to the fore in Schumann's Abegg Variations, Chopin's Polonaise Op 26 No 1 and the Op 10 grouping of Rachmaninov's Valse, Nocturne and Humoresque. Thank God that Balakirev's Islamey was devoid of speed pyrotechnics, the climax left to the final pages.

Continue >>