Ambitious Chopin

Four Ballades - Chopin

Sonata 1.x.1905 ("From the Street") - Janacek

Nocturne No 4 Op 36 - Faure

Nocturne No 13 Op 119 - Faure

Valses nobles et sentimentales - Ravel

Chopin's music offers so many interpretative possibilities that the performer's judgment can be severely tested. In the NCH John Field Room last night Conor Linehan's playing of the four Ballades seemed intent on exploring extremities. I cannot recall hearing the G minor Ballade's opening section played with such a pronounced lengthening at the end of each beat. Purposefulness was weakened with repetition.

The most notable exponent of liberties such as this - unsupported by the score and by evidence contemporary with the composer - was Artur Rubinstein. The result can sound wonderfully improvisatory. But, paradoxically, it needs a total control over the relationship between local events and long-range impetus. That was the problem in this performance. Each Ballade was treated distinctly - the second was simpler than the first, for example - but fast sections were so fast that control was precarious. Linehan's self-evident musicianship seemed overwhelmed by interpretative ambition, something I have not previously associated with him.

The second half of the recital was much more persuasive. Linehan's playing of Janacek's Sonata 1.x.1905 ("From the Street") was driven by impeccable rhythmic tension in the fast and slow movements (the final movement is lost). One of the undeniable strengths of his Chopin playing - excellent command of colour and volume - was put to good use in Faure's Nocturne's No. 4 Op. 36 and No. 13 Op. 119, and to even better use in Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales. Linehan explored Ravel's calculatedly decadent music with flashes of real insight.