I seem to recall that when Andrew McGregor and Harriet Smith discussed Llyr Williams's Beethoven piano sonata cycle a few weeks back, they gave it something of a drubbing, at best damning with faint praise. So I was a little surprised to see in the latest issue of BBC Music magazine issue which arrived yesterday, that said cycle was chosen as overall disc of the month with a lavish double page spread and glowing review from Michael Church. We all know views and opinions can vary but this seemed a particularly marked discrepancy in appreciation ?
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I'm not surprised at him dividing opinion in this way. I've heard him live about 3 times, in small venues, playing Beethoven Schubert, Mussorgsky etc., but would never be remotely tempted to buy a CD. I first heard him in the 1990s in Swansea University's small concert hall, a year or so after Paul Lewis (whose Beethoven I have bought into) in the same venue and at similar stages in their careers. The contrast in their musical personae, stage presences etc. could not be more marked. I've heard him more recently as he's a regular at our local concert venue near Cardigan, which one feels obliged to support, but I won't be going to him again. Obviously he's grown as an artist, but I simply can't connect with him....Can't quite put my finger on it, but there's an absence of warmth - would a chilliness be too strong? - in his immensely proficient pianism which leaves me cold at the end of it, whether in a Beethoven sonata, or thundering through Pictures.... -
As an admirer of Peter Weir's film of 'Picnic at Hanging Rock', I've been wondering whether to watch the upcoming TV series. The first three reviews which I read gave it 2 stars, 4 stars and 3 stars respectively.
Ultimately, any review, be it of a recording of classical music, a stage play, a TV drama or a book, is surely going to be subjective at least to some extent.Comment
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