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Bach Weber Janácek Rachmaninov Bartok

Bach Aria variata BWV989
Weber Piano Sonata No. 3 in D minor Op. 49
Janácek Piano Sonata I.X.1905
Rachmaninov 3 Etudes-tableaux

Bartok Out of Doors
Glinka-Balakirev The Lark

Tanya Gabrielian piano

Wigmore Hall, London 21 January 2010

Another rewarding recital by this fine American born pianist who attracted and has retained our attention since her student days at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where her receptivity to suggestions in master-classes (Satz and Aimard) made her stand out. She is now well established in New York as a recitalist and chamber music pianist but I hope she will continue to appear in London regularly.

Her well chosen Bach variations, a comparative rarity, was interpreted as for modern piano and sounded well in Wigmore Hall, with varied articulation and scaled to this concert room; full-bodied but nothing too loud throughout the evening.

Weber can easily sound flashy and superficial, but Gabrielian made a strong case for his third sonata deserving a more secure place in the repertoire.

Her sustained concentration and focus made the surviving movements of Janacek's sonata 1. X. 1905 (in memory of a worker bayoneted at a student demonstration) speak to us powerfully - what a pity he withdrew and burned the funeral march third movement... Bartok's Out of Doors was as exhilarating as when first heard under her powerful hands at RAM.

I trust that Tanya Gabrielian will continue to appear annually at Wigmore Hall, and will enjoy a fuller audience and critical presence next time. Meanwhile look out for her recording of Brahms & Zemlinsky clarinet trios to be made in Geneva later this month.

Peter Grahame Woolf

Hear Tania play her encore and see her in a fragment of Rachmaninov on her website.