Par 1
Maryla Jonas, who made
her Philadelphia debut last
night in a recital sponsored
by the Philadelphia Forum at the
Academy of Music, is a distinctive
artist.
Par 2
Reports from New York about the
amazing qualities of this pupil of
Paderewski were in no way
exaggerated. As soon as Mme Jonas had
played the opening Handel "Passacaglia,"
one realized that here was a
musician of no mean order. Immediately
she established an impression
of authority, of technical balance
and of musicality which are not
everyday experience.
Par 3
Mme Jonas followed the Handel
with Wilhelm Friedrich Bach's
"Capriccio," and then skipping the
programmed Haydn "Variations"
(for reasons not explained), played
the Beethoven "Sonata No. 2, Opus
31." These pieces were all presented
with a serenity and a detachment
that were in the great style; an
aura of nobility pervaded them.
True enough, the Beethoven sounded
a little dull; in fact, the only dull
spot on the exacting program.
Par 4
With Mme. Jonas' first encore,
the Schubert "Waltzes," it became
immediately evident that here was
a great interpreter of the romantic
school. Nor were we, with this in
mind, in any way disappointed with
the superb playing of the various
Chopin pieces: the second posthumous
"Nocturne in C sharp minor";
the B flat Major and C Minor
Minor," and the "Polonaise, Opus
44."
Par 5
We started this review by saying
that Mme. Jonas was a distinctive
artist; indeed she is an individualist.
In an era when rigidity and adherence
to what is on the printed page
have been carried to extremes, this
woman dares, and dares as a great
and assured artist, to be herself, to
indulge in a rubato which is the
acme of artistic expression, to
employ a pianissimo, the like of whose
clarity and carrying power would
be hard to duplicate. Too many
musicians give one the impression
they do not care for music. This is
not the case with Mme. Jonas.
Par 6
The Prokofieff First Sonata,
Opus 1, gave the artist a chance to
display her breath-taking technique,
the massive quality of her tone
when she so desires.
Par 7
The audience was large and very
demonstrative, realizing that it was
listening to a pianist of quite
extraordinary endowments.