Soporific Schubert, but peak Liszt from Khatia Buniatishvili

By Mark Pullinger, 02 April 2019

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“It’s a wonder the keyboard didn’t spontaneously combust”

Reviewed at Barbican Hall, London on 1 April 2019

Schubert, Piano Sonata no. 21 in B flat major, D.960

Liszt, Ständchen no. 7 (transcribed from Schubert's Schwanengesang)

Liszt, Gretchen am Spinnrade, D 558 no. 8 (transcribed from Schubert D 118)

Liszt, Erlkönig (transcribed from Schubert), S 558 no.4

Liszt, Transcendental Études, S 139: no. 4 Mazeppa

Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody no. 6 in D flat major, S 244/6

Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2 in C sharp minor, S 244/2 (arr. Horowitz/Buniatishvili)

Schubert, Impromptu no. 3 in G flat major, D.899

Khatia Buniatishvili, Piano

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Buniatishvili in Hamburg

Mengguang Huang, 24th March

Jonathan Nott and the OSR bring surgical precision to Debussy’s vivid sketches, while Khatia Buniatishvili’s Brahms evokes the soulful, improvisational warmth of a pre-war piano legend at the Elbphilharmonie.

****1

Protests disrupt the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's Proms appearance

Dominic Lowe, 29th August

Despite the disruption, the musicians of the MSO under Chief Conductor Jaime Martín continue their interesting programme of Sutherland, Dvořák and Tchaikovsky.

***11

Highly individual Mozart from Buniatishvili

Nick Boston, 9th December

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields give exciting performances at the Barbican, with idiosyncratic Mozart from Buniatishvili.

***11

Khatia Buniatishvili in search of her lost fingers

Alain Lompech, 30th October

Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto turns out to be a shipwreck for the Georgian pianist, despite an admirable Orchestre de Paris and conductor (Kirill Karabits).

*1111

Power and personality: Buniatishvili, Märkl, the Taiwan Philharmonic

Alexander Hall, 9th April

Khatia Buniatishvili may divide opinion, but for sheer visceral excitement she's hard to beat. Jun Märkl on tour with the Taiwan Philharmonic at Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie impresses in milder ways.

****1

Quirky Rachmaninov from Buniatishvili and the RPO in Atlanta

William E Ford, 15th January

A most idiosyncratic version of Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto from Khatia Buniatishvili along with a notable performance of Sibelius' Second Symphony from the RPO, touring the United States under Mark Wigglesworth.

***11

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.