MUSIC REVIEWS : PINCHAS ZUKERMAN AT ROYCE HALL

Pinchas Zukerman has an edge on some of his colleagues because he plays two instruments and plays them almost equally well. At his Royce Hall recital Wednesday night he played violin sonatas by Mozart, Bartok and Schumann. But for Schumann’s set of “Maerchenbilder,” he brought out his viola.

Zukerman might well make more of his duality of talent, for, brief and concentrated as are the Schumann pieces, they provoked him to a richer and warmer musicality than he generally extracted from the violin. The viola’s somber voice seemed to be more congenially matched to the Zukerman temperament.

A classic traffic jam prevented the hearing of all but the last three or four minutes of Mozart’s Sonata A, K.526--and that seemed to be winding up quite merrily.

There was, of course, not much merriment in Bartok’s Sonata No. 2. It is made of sterner stuff. Violin and piano may play simultaneously, but there is little relation between the two discourses. Each part glories in its independence, which in part relieves the players of certain responsibilities to each other. And that can complicate matters for the innocent listener. The work is, nevertheless, one of Bartok’s boldest and most original scores. Zukerman and his able pianist Mark Neikrug exploited the exotic colors and free-style rhythms with impressive skill.

Schumann’s Sonata in D minor represents a flowering of the romantic spirit that allows both violinist and pianist to indulge in songful flights and vigorous display. But a wistful little encore in folk style, a Sicilienne by Maria Theresia von Paradies, did more for Zukerman’s musical image than anything else on the program.