George Emmanuel Lazaridis

A big advantage of the new age of recording technology that has spawned a vast array of companies and labels is that major artists who previously would have gone unnoticed can now have their performances listened to. I have just been enjoying the playing of George Emmanuel Lazaridis (who?), an excellent pianist who hails from Greece. His Schubert CD with the Wanderer Fantasy and the last B flat sonata reminds me of the recent Schubert recordings of Maria Pires; the same calm, straight playing without added histrionics or heightened pathos. Much of Schubert's music is best left to play itself, and it really does not need sophisticated interpretative intervention by the player. All praise to the hitherto unknown (to me) Mr Lazaridis. It's a change to meet an impressive new name who is not a young Chinese or Russian. And praise to the little Somm label for letting us hear George Emmanuel in Schubert.