I heard Valerie Tryon play in Wigmore Hall a couple of days ago.
Programme:  Chopin:  Baracarolle (F sharp major), Etudes op.  25
(complete)-Debussy:  Estampes (complete)-Liszt:  Song Transcriptions
(Schmidt, Lessmann and Lassen), Hungarian Rhapsody #12.

First of all, the performance was techniqually flawless.  I'm not the right
man to judge her Chopin intrepretations, but I especially liked the etudes
in minor keys.  Overall, she made them sound simple and straightforward and
that's indeed an achievement.

She has just recorded a first volume of the complete pianomusic of Claude
Debussy (don't remember the name of the label).  Her playing was very
relaxed and posessed that ice-crystal-like quality which to me is a
trademark of Debussy (and sometimes Liszt).  A must-buy, in my opinion.

I didn't expect too much of the song transcriptions.  I was very surprised
when they (all five) turned out to be as good as the "Widmung" (Schumann)
transcription.  Valerie Tryon was at her best in these pieces, allowing
herself more freedom in these interpretation than in the Etudes.

Finally, the Hungarian Rhapsody was technically almost perfect, but the
intrepretation was somewhat restrained or maybe just to straightforward.
I expected more rubatos, dynamics and longer pauses between the sections.
Also, the Rhapsodies are constructed like "questions and answers".  Valerie
provided only answers.

Finally, she played two encores.  The first one sounded somewhat like
Prokofiev and the second one must have been by Grieg (it was not a"Lyrical
Piece", though).

Despite the reservations, a very good recital!

Mikael
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