UW Symphony Orchestra Gives Brilliant Concert

J. M.

August 4, 1967

...Paul Lyddon's performance of the piano part of the Rachmaninoff concerto was a dazzling virtuoso feat. As everyone recalls, it was the work with which Van Cliburn won his triumph in Moscow. Mr. Lyddon displayed in full measure the virtuosity needed in this taxing work. Musically, the concerto seems old-fashioned, a situation frequent enough for works of the comparatively recent past in any of the arts. The novels of Galsworthy and Arnold Bennett seem dated as does the music of Rachmaninoff, while the novels of Jane Austen and the symphonies and quartets of Haydn are triumphantly alive. But no one in the auditorium Wednesday was worried about Rachmaninoff's musical ideas while rejoicing in the feats of pianism performed by Mr. Lyddon and the effective support of the orchestra and Mr. Tomatz.