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[This anonymous review appeared in an unidentified English newspaper.
A cutting of the original is in the collection of myself, NN, tucked into a booklet for the
International Celebrity Subscription Concerts, season 1927-1928, in England.
The cutting is undated, but from companion cuttings it seems likely that
the review was published in or about 1927.
This web version is dated 12 November 2013.]
Pachmann.
Par 1
It would be difficult to say whether Mr. Pachmann
himself or the enormous audience at the
Albert Hall yesterday afternoon was more
enchanted with his playing of a programme drawn
entirely from his well-loved Chopin. There was,
of course, the usual little difficulty in adjusting
the piano stool to his liking, but even this did
not present such formidable problems or occupy
quite as much time as usual. And having once
embarked upon his first group, consisting of the
G minor Ballade, a couple of Etudes, and the
Scherzo in E major, he left his admirers in no
doubt that, in his own particular vein, he can
still be as delicate and sprightly as any of the
younger generation, by whom his interpretations
of the composer may be no more than a legend.
It was surprising to note how delightfully the
pearly quality of his touch floated across the
vast spaces of the Albert Hall in the more slender
pieces of his programme. And who could find
cause for complaint if his own naive delight in
his accomplishments sometimes took the form of
an elaborate demonstration of how it was done
and an interpolated lecture on the whole science
and art of pianoforte technique and its particular
application to Chopin? After all, Mr. Pachmann
is a law unto himself in these matters,
and for many people they constitute one of the
most engaging features of a Pachmann recital.