NCH, Dublin
Bach - Partita in C minor BWV826. Schumann - Intermezzi Op 4. Brahms - Intermezzi Op 117. Schumann - Faschingsschwank aus Wien.
Finghin Collins has long been the most successful Irish pianist of his generation. He was early in scooping up the prizes and awards that were available at home.
And in 1999 he made his mark internationally, by taking first prize in the highly-regarded Clara Haskil Competition in Switzerland. But, in spite of a busy international career, some of the highest recognition at home has been slow in coming. It wasn't until this week, within a couple of months of his 33rd birthday, that he secured the badge of honour of giving a solo recital in the celebrity recital series at the National Concert Hall, an institution where he has already served a term on the board of directors. As a musician, Collins presents himself as a warm-hearted romantic. His playing is tonally attractive and technically sure-fingered, and he rarely misses the obvious in what he plays. There's a beguiling easi- ness to his delivery, as if nothing is really demanding or challenging to him. He always gives the impression of being in command of what he does.
There wasn't a whiff of the 20th or 21st centuries in this programme, and the approach to the Partita in C minor by Bach, with its concentration on melodic projection rather than contrapuntal tension, with a few moments of almost impressionistic excursion, was of a piece with the rest of the evening.
Collins is one of the pianists involved in Swiss label Claves's survey of the piano works of Schumann, whose bicentenary is being celebrated this year. However, it was perhaps unkind of him to choose Schumann's
Intermezzi, Op 4
, and follow with Brahms's
Intermezzi, Op 117
.
The early Schumann can sound a little distracted and distracting, as if the composer didn't have his concentration fully under control, and was apt to dwell too long in certain places and move off the point too quickly in others. Collins's approach of living in the moment didn't always seem to get to the heart of these elusive pieces, and there were times when the flurries of excitement sounded like a storm in a teacup.
Late Brahms, by contrast, is fully centred, often achingly wise and plain, apparent simplicity turned to piercingly expressive purpose.
Collins played the three Intermezzi with firm projection, and steered clear of the ambiguities and undertones that other players seek out.
In Schumann's carnivalesque
Faschingsschwank aus Wien
, he enabled the music to burst with explosive energy and to linger languishingly in pools of tenderness. This was definitely a carnival to celebrate.
