Londonderry reviews Jorge Bolet in London

29 May 1962 (aged 47)

Royal Festival Hall, London

Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 57, Appassionata, Liszt’s B minor sonata and Chopin’s Third Sonata

(This was not, as sometimes assumed, his London solo début - that was on 18 December 1955, also in the Festival Hall.)​

Alistair Londonderry wrote in The Queen (3 April 1962) that 'his is not the icy diablerie of Michelangeli's virtuosity, nor is there anywhere the slightest lack of conviction. Liszt's sonata is one of the greatest works ever written for the piano, and Mr Bolet played it as such. I doubt if one will ever hear a more heartfelt interpretation than this. Perhaps not an over imaginative conception, it was still full of conviction and Mr Bolet produced some overwhelming sounds from the piano. The final prestissimo really fulminated.

'Any interpretation of Chopin's B minor sonata Op.58 must inevitably bear comparison with that of the late, bitterly lamented Dinu Lipatti The recording he made of this work represents one of the summits of pianistic art. Mr Bolet's interpretation did not compare at all badly, although it lacked that elusive quality that characterises the perfect Chopin interpreter. The most remarkable thing about this performance of the sonata was the Scherzo.  Taken at a fantastic speed, the marvellous gossamer-like quality of this movement was beautifully realised, and every note could be heard.

It is really the first movement that requires the most from the pianist, technically and interpretively, and it is no discredit to Mr Bolet to have failed there, and succeeded so admirably in the remaining movements.' 

A.L. ends his review cryptically: 'I cannot help wondering, however, what Liszt would have made of Mr Bolet's rendition of Le Grand Galop Chromatique.'

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Alastair Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 9th Marquess of Londonderry (1937- 20 June, 2012, Richmond, Surrey) had inherited considerable family assets in 1965 – including the grand Londonderry House at the foot of London’s Park Lane, the estate in Wynyard Park in County Durham and the opulent Mount Stewart in County Down. For many years in later life, Londonderry split his life between his villa in Tuscany and a house in Shaftesbury, Dorset.