All pieces except the Del Tredici were played from memory. I loved hearing the Mussorgsky all the way through in one sitting—usually you’ll get a movement or two played on the classiscal music station. From Mr. Beliavsky’s brief remarks before the concert, we gained an insight into the flow of the piece. It was conceived as a walk through an actual exhibition of paintings, so there was a promenade (p) at the beginning and also between some movements and then there were pianistic renditions of the pictures: The Gnome, with a
dark-hued, quasi-spooky feeling; (p); The Old Castle, featuring an oriental cast to the melody, over a drone in the lower notes; (p); Tuileries: Children Quarreling at Play, which was bright and energetic, mostly in the higher register of the piano; (p); Bydlo, mostly lower notes of the piano, with a slightly martial sound; (p); Ballad of the Unhatched Chickens, with chirping motifs and a jolly mien; Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle, featuring strong, straightforward octaves with added embellishments; (p); The Market Place at Limoges, the “busy”ness reflected in the rhythm and tempo, and virtuosic playing; Catacombe, with heavy, dark chords; Lingua Mortua, with tremolo rhythms in the right hand; and The Hut of Baba-Yaga, with bombastic and (again) virtuosic writing. The piece concludes with The Great Gate of Kiev, which brings home the themes of the promenades and sets the town bells to ringing. There is an overall heaviness, a grave “Russian” feel of heft and solidity in this tour-de-force piece played amazingly on Saturday afternoon.
After a well-deserved intermission, we had the Schubert Impromptus, the first with rippling accompaniment to a gentle tune of shifting temperaments. The second had a cheerful opening, deceptive in that it sounded simple but wasn’t. This reminded me of some of the Schubert and Schumann German Dances. The third Impromptu was more formal in its setting—still, beautiful in its own way.
In a slightly clumsy moment, Mr. Beliavsky brought a prepared music desk out for the Del Tredici pieces. (Note to stage management—give some thought to how this is going to look from the audience’s point of view.) Ballad in Yellow was originally a song whose text was a setting of a Garcia Lorca poem. For the piano composition, the vocal line was removed and the accompaniment was expanded. While this was an interesting concept, and pretty much successful, I found myself wishing for the original version. Maybe that’s just me. Wedding Song was bright with cheerful sounding chords and phrases and, toward the end, just a touch of dissonance. As a plus, at least for me, Mr. Del Tredici was in the audience—just three seats away from me. It’s great hearing the works of living composers and being able to honor them in person.
The cover of the program had the following: “A program exploring the modern Romantics, featuring works by 19th century composers who profoundly influenced the course of 20th century composition.” And we certainly got that.
With Chopin, we got (to my sensibilities) Chopin’s own, maybe more generally accepted, version of Romanticism. The gentle nature of the Nocturne made me almost avoid experiencing the powerful portions. Chopin is both serene and powerful—something that always takes me a bit by surprise. Mr. Beliavsky’s interpretation of the Ballade seemed a little less fluid than some others I’ve heard.
Still, this is a concert that I will remember as one of the better I’ve heard in a long, long time. Well done, and I am so glad I got to hear this!
ConcertMeister
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