The first of two piano recitals given by the pianist who may claim to be without rival in the matter of affectation and eccentricities of demeanour took place in St. James's-hall on Wednesday, when that part of the audience who attend his concerts largely for the sake of amusement was a little disappointed with his quiet and artistic performance of Bach's Italian concerto, which, of course, delighted the musicians. The player soon made up for this self-restraint, and the later part of the entertainment went with almost as much spirit and created almost as much hilarity as a performance of Mr. Chevalier's. M. de Pachmann no longer contents himself with making faces and throwing his hands about; his comments on his own playing are often audible, and when they are so are understood to be laudatory. Considering how much of his attention must needs be given to this side of his entertainment, it is rather to his credit that he should be able to give good interpretations of so many pieces than surprising that he should forget part of the nocturne by Chopin, which came in his final group of solos. Mozart's C minor fantasia, Weber's Rondo brillant in E flat, four of Mendelssohn's songs without words, three short pieces of Schubert, Liszt's transcription of "Hark, hark, the lark", five studies of Chopin, his barcarolle, a Mazurka in C sharp minor, one of the valses, in A flat, and, for an encore, the "berceuse", made up his programme, and most of the works were played with musical feeling, good technique, and interpretative skill, if the evidence of the ear alone were taken. There would be no objection to the buffooneries in which the performer chooses to indulge if he only did not play so well; it is melancholy to think of the position he might have taken but for his tricks, in which he is of course encouraged by the hardly-suppressed laughter of his hearers.