Concert Review: Ivo Pogorelich RecitalDec 9, 2014, CCCH
Liszt, Schumann, Stravinsky, Brahms
In a way, it is not possible to review a Pogorelich concert. The pianist has his own rules and one is best to discard convention in listening.
The first half had a Fantasia theme, which was exploited in full by the pianist. Tempi were slow; gears changed abruptly; rhythms were idiosyncratic, and pauses could last an eternity. This can be said to suit the lurid world of the Liszt Dante Sonata. Pogorelich certainly made a meal of the bass ripples, while the treble was always beautiful in tone. But the same approach made the Schumann Fantasy in C thoroughly idiosyncratic, not so much Florestan and Eusebius as all-Pogorelich.
The more structural pieces of the second-half were (just) a little more straightforward. Stravinsky's 3 Movements from Petrouchka was brilliant but the rhythms did not feel Russian. The Brahms Paganini Variations is not one of my favorite pieces; I have always felt it rather straight-laced. The free rein Pogorelich gave it actually made more involving listening, for me at least. No encore was offered, as is appropriate after such a heavy program.
One thing I thought: for all the tonal beauty and pianistic display, there was not much rhythmic subtlety, nor humor.
Here is a UK comment on his 2014 London concert of the same program.
No comments:
Post a Comment