Yesterday we heard Henri Herz. His execution is elegant, agreeable and coquettish, but without nobility. What a difference between him and Chopin, whose fingers sing and bring tears to your eyes, making anyone who is sensitive tremble with emotion. His delicate and slender hands cover wide stretches and skips with a fabulous lightness, and his finger agility is so marvellous that I am ready to believe the amusing story that he has been seen to put his foot around his neck! Moreover, it is only thanks to this flexibility that he can play black notes with his thumb or whole series of notes with two fingers only, passing the longer finger over the shorter and sliding from one note to another. His pianissimo is so delicate that he can produce the greatest effects of crescendo without requiring the strength of the muscular virtuosi of the modern school, and he produces marvels of nuance by the use of the pedal, both pedals together and by his unique legato. To his pupils he says: "Let your left hand be your conductor and keep strict time'. And so his right hand, now hesitant, now impatient, is nevertheless constrained to follow this great rule and never weakens the rhythm of the left hand. << less