Perspectives 6, the title of Andreas Haefliger's latest collection, makes it sound like a particularly arid product from one of the 1950s total serialists. In fact, it's an interestingly put together recital programme, in which the Beethoven and Schumann works are interleaved with the four miniatures named after the elements of the ancient world – earth, air, fire and water – which were part of the set of six that Luciano Berio published as encore pieces in 1990.
Taken as a whole, they link together a very satisfying sequence, though one that is more memorable as a totality and for Haefliger's performances of the Berio pieces – each an evocation of a different romantic style – than for the individual accounts of the repertoire pieces. The Beethoven sonatas are brisk and businesslike – the E major Op 109 perhaps a little too brisk at times – while by contrast the Schumann is a bit over deliberate (and rather too generously pedalled for my taste). Still, the finale is eloquently sustained and guided to an impressive climax.
