<<  -- 2 --  John Bell Young    Immanent power

Thus, in Brahms sturdy, earnest and ardent Waltzes [listen], Mr Hautzig never fails to deliver a burgeoning inner voice or jaunty rhythm with the idiomatic inflection it demands, conveying it with the knowing savoir faire of one who grew up with this music in its native environment. In the Spanish works included here, Mr Hautzig, who is best known for his performances of the Austrian masters, emerges with the authority of a native Andalusian or, in the case of Ginastera's lively dances, an Argentinean. Witness his magical reading of the latter's languid, bittersweet Danza de la Moza Donosa [listen], where he exploits the work's pedal points that enhance its tension as well as its quiescence. Again, in Ignaz Friedman's rarely played Gartnerwaltz No 2 (Victor Borge often played this when not joking), Mr Hautzig is all charm, as he is careful to distinguish sentiment from sentimentality.

In Chopin [listen -- Mazurka Op 7 No 1], Mr Hautzig is no less big boned, structurally cognizant and imaginative, taking time to define and characterize every motivic gesture while eschewing the superficial, cavalier approach favored by less seasoned artists. To some his way with Chopin may seem labored; for this listener it's abundantly detailed, vocal in conception and ultimately revelatory. But it is in Alfred Grunfeld's technicolor paraphrase of Johann Strauss's endearing operetta Fledermaus [listen] that Mr Hautzig pulls out all the stops. Anyone who still doubts that this able octogenarian has lost anything of his comprehensive technique or interpretive command need only listen to this for five minutes. Indeed, in this glamorous work Mr Hautzig is in his element; bouquets of sound mingle effortlessly with its effervescent um-pah rhythms and tenuous asides. That Mr Hautzig does so with such subtle and effortless transparency is all the more astonishing. But if we could all be so young at eighty ...

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