Maxim Vengerov, Barbican Hall - music review

Maxim Vengerov served up the high notes in his solo recital
16 January 2014

There are two potential problems with recitals consisting of virtuoso bonbons: the first is that they tend to be less nourishing than main courses; the second is what to do as an encore.

Maxim Vengerov solved the first problem by devoting one half of his solo recital to substantial sonatas by Elgar and Prokofiev.

As for encores, he slipped in one (Fauré’s Après un Rêve) before the final advertised item and ended with a potboiler (Bazzini’s Dance of the Goblins) so meretricious as to make all his previous trifles seem as nutritious as a bowl of muesli.

To be fair, Wieniawski’s Legénde, at least when played by Vengerov and Itamar Golan (who accompanied superbly throughout), is not exactly lacking in red-blooded passion — while Ysaye’s unaccompanied Sonata No 3, Ballade, is always worth hearing. Kreisler’s Schön Rosmarin and Liebesfreud, Paganini’s Caprice No 24, a Hungarian Dance and a Scherzo by Brahms and a Slavonic Dance by Dvorak were the remaining sweetmeats, all served up with aplomb and most garnished with as much musical intelligence as such works allow.

If it was the Elgar and Prokofiev that inevitably proved more satisfying in terms of emotional depth, it was equally inevitably the potboilers that drew the sharp intakes of breath, the appreciative chuckles and the thunderous ovations. None more so than for the Dance of the Goblins.

For all the jaw-dropping virtuosity displayed here, though, the truly frightening thing is that Vengerov was already playing this piece at the age of nine.

Further concerts in the Maxim Vengerov Artist Spotlight series on Jan 17, Feb 2 and Feb 28 (020 7638 8891; barbican.org.uk)

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