Warren Mailley-Smith/Mazury, St John’s Smith Square, review: Dancers enliven this Chopin recital

The Mazurkas themselves emerged pristine: he caught the sweet artlessness and abrupt mood-changes to a T

Warren Mailley-Smith (B Ealovega)

It was a nice idea to preface a performance of some of Chopin’s Mazurkas with examples of the dances which inspired them, and the Mazury Dance Company brought the original choreography vividly to life. But why did they have to be accompanied by a badly-amplified orchestral recording, and why were they limited to five minutes before the piano was wheeled on? This prelude could have been so much more effective.

Warren Mailley-Smith is now half-way through his eleven-concert series of Chopin recitals at St John’s, and before the Mazurkas he played the Sonata No 1 in C minor. It was fascinating to encounter this rarely-performed work, and what he did with it was intensely poetic: under his sensitive touch the music grew and ramified persuasively. The Mazurkas themselves emerged pristine: he caught the sweet artlessness and abrupt mood-changes to a T.

But nobody should attempt Chopin’s Etudes in public unless they are absolutely sure of their technical command: part of their beauty should lie in the player’s joyful mastery of their enormous difficulties. This player despatched the first two – the easiest ones – with grace and verve, but thereafter one winced as he struggled.