Boris Giltburg with the first of his complete Beethoven Cycle.Some extraordinarily beautiful playing with Beethoven’s first sonata op 2 n 1 almost Mendelssohnian in the way Giltburg smoothed over Beethoven’s rough patches with dynamic drive and meltingly beautiful pedal effects. A Prestissimo that was truly of scintillating streams of notes that reminded me more of Saint-Saens than the Beethoven I had heard from Serkin half a century ago.

This was a different vision of Beethoven more pianistic than orchestral and whilst he illuminated many things he lost much of the weight and the very backbone of Beethoven.
An attempt to reinvent Beethoven and find colours and whispered sounds of elegance and grace rather than the rough edges and impatient exclamations of Beethoven’s true character.

It suited the Sonata op 32 n. 3 known as The Hunt and here Giltburg knew how to chase all over the keyboard with exhilaration and character a work that Rubinstein had made very much his own and I had heard on this very stage in his last public performance in 1976.

Nowhere was it more noticeable than in the monumental ‘Adagio sostenuto’ of op.106 where Giltburg’s extraordinary sensibility to sound lost sight of the overall architectural shape of a movement of earth shattering passion and fervant conviction.I remember Serkin sweating tears and passionate cries in this movement that is after all marked ‘Appassionato e con molto sentimento’

The fugue was a ‘tour de force’ of piano playing but sounded more like the Danse Macabre than the knotty twine of monstrous proportions miraculously penned by a totally deaf and irate genius.

It was Richter ,not satisfied with his performance in the Festival Hall repeated the fugue without a break knowing that it was being recorded for broadcast. Annie Fischer famously played it as an encore after the Beethoven Trilogy that she had miraculously played substituting at the last minute for an indisposed colleague. Serkin of course holding onto the last chord ,shaking and in a state of complete shock as we all were will never be forgotten.

Some remarkable playing from a great artist but fear more in the style of the sound world of a Richter than a Gilels.

Schumann’s Arabesque op.18 was like a breath of fresh air after such extraordinary profusions .It was here that his ultra sensitivity and artistry could illuminate this most popular work and turn it into a glowing gem of subtle charm and beauty.

A fascinating voyage of discovery uncovering in 32 steps the Genius of Beethoven as seen from afar.

Boris Giltburg at the Wigmore hall Chopin Plus from an illustrious artist in residence

Boris Giltburg an avalanche of Diabolic suggestions take the Wigmore by storm