German pianist’s mixed bag of Haydn, Beethoven and Chopin to Hobart.

Federation Concert Hall, Hobart

October 22, 2014

Watching Bernd Glemser play piano is like watching an academic hunched over his books. This is not so far-fetched a vision for the German musician, who in 1989 became the youngest professor in his country. The internationally renowned pianist performed alone in the Federation Concert Hall on Wednesday night to an audience the size of a booked out coffee shop.

Showing the instrument the respect of one who has spent his life studying it, Glemser gives a flawless performance – technically. Haydn’s Sonata in E minor, Hob XVI:34 opens the concert with study-like passages across the middle of the piano, reflecting the smaller range of the fortepiano for which it was originally written. With concentration surpassing emotion, it appears Glemser responds to the will of the piano rather than his own. Tilting close to the keys, he nods in agreement with the direction of the music. While he uses a lot of pedal, his sustained passages are emphasised by the close proximity of the backboard and the resulting sound is washy.

Good programming choices place the Beethoven Sonata in E, Op. 109 next on the list, and Glemser increasingly reveals a little more of himself through the music. More than I’ve heard from other musicians, Glemser has the interesting talent of picking exactly which line to bring out for the listener. His melodies are unmistakably independent and can be followed into often surprising territory. The Mendelssohn Variations Serieuses follows – a strenuous work in which Glemser’s arms fly from one end of the keyboard to the other in rapid succession.

A disappointing Chopin recital broke the interval with Berceuse, Three Mazurkas, Op. 59, Barcarolle, and Polonaise-Fantasy. The set was performed with one dynamic – loud; and one articulation – chunky. His expression was highly controlled and the climaxes were almost unnoticeable. To say Glemser performs mechanically implies coldness, but I wanted to hear more spark. Still, the audience responded with enough applauds to receive two encores, which he performed with more intensity than he had the entire evening.