Mark Viner at St Mary’s Perivale
Nobility and radiance on a voyage of discovery
The extraordinary thing about a Mark Viner recital is his ability ,one might even say a mission or passion, to bring a fresh light to all he does. Whether delving deep into the archives for works too long kept in obscurity or looking at the most revered classics afresh with the same microscope and absolute fidelity to the composer that he uses to bring neglected masterpieces to the fore. And so it was today with two of the most played classics :Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ and Chopin’s G minor Ballade and relatively unknown works with a Christmas appeal. A transcription of two movements from Tchaikowsky’s. ‘Nutcracker’ in the transcription of Taneyev which has long been overtaken by the genial much played one by Mikhail Pletnev. ‘A Christmas Tree Suite’ by Liszt that has long been in oblivion as are too many of his misunderstood later works. And the final triumphant March of the ‘Three Holy Kings’ from Liszt’s rarely heard oratorio ‘Christus’.
