Vladimir Havsky has added another success to his growing reputation as a pianist. In the first half of the programme on Tuesday evening at the Lyceum he had the floor to himself, which marked his first solo recital. One has come to expect, as a matter gf course, the nam? of Havsky to produce a full house, and not without just cause.
One of the most impressive features of this pianist, apart from his splendid abilities which we have appreciated and noted in the past, is his productivity. When it is realized that since November 1938 he has appeared in three concerts comprising two major concertos and three two-piano suites, all of which he has assimilated (to use a wholly inadequate word) within a year, it will readily be admitted that his age-to-output ratio is prodigious.
The Programme Bach is always a solid foundation upon which to build a programme, and Havskys Bach-Liszt G-minor organ Fantasie and Fugue was an articulate exposition; after this we felt safe in his hands for the rest of the evening.
Four minor works of Debussy and Rachmaninoff which followed were well played, but this section might with advantage have been switched with No. 3, for it was an unexpected descent from Bach-Liszt to the jaded melancholy of "La Plus que Lente."
The really beautiful playing of the Berceuse overshadowed the rest of the Chopin. There was hardly a single technical nut on the entire programme which Havsky could not crack with ease, but therein was a pitfall into which he disappeared now and again. In other words, this pianist failed at times to. keep the Demon, Speed-in-Execution, at bay. Consequently, the Molto agitate (not an indication of speed) of the 22nd Prelude and the Presto con fuoco of the 3rd Scherzo were transformed into Presto possible, and the music suffered inevitably from loss of definition, though the Mono mosse of the Scherzo was set out, with care and delicacy.
Some of the best playing of Havsky occurred in the Tschaikowsky concerto which he played with admirable understanding and clarity, though his tempo was sometimes capricious. Indeed, had it not been for an occasional roughness in the dovetailing of the soloist and orchestra, it could be said that his
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.