Concert Review: Dennis Matsuev

Nov 9th, 2018, Carnegie Hall
Dennid Matsuev
Beethoven - Rachmaninoff - Chopin - Tchaikovsky - Prokofiev

Keyboard Virtuosi today are a curious breed. Eager to sound more modern and different, yet longing also to belong to the romantic tradition, they frequently court controversy and put themselves as well as their audience into a conundrum.

In the case of Matsuev, there is another dimension. Like Gergiev, he is deemed by some Russian expats (likely Ukrainians) as a Putin Puppet - indeed there was a small demonstration against him right outside Carnegie Hall (Gergiev had received this treatment many times in NYC). They were a minuscule minority, as inside the venue there was a Russian diaspora, ney, occupation - I heard a lot more Russian than English.

There has never been the least bit of doubt on Matsuev's keyboard prowess, but questions about his artistry persist. I have known him through his mostly excellent concerto recordings with Gergiev on the Mariinsky label, but this is the first time I have heard him in person. Judged by this concert, he is definitely a titan capable of making truly colossal sounds, likely unrivaled (with all due respect to Freire, I'd have liked to have heard him playing the Brahms with Gergiev; see last post below). However, his affinity for composers seem to vary a great deal, and not all interpretations were successful.

The openers to both halves were not too successful. Beethoven's Op 2/3 is not an easy sonata to bring off, and Matsuev's rendition came off as highly idiosyncratic rather than personal and memorable. The disjointed first movement aside, the adagio was an attempt to create profundity, with only intermittent success; whereas the scherzo and finale's gaiety came across as forced. Chopin's Ballade No. 4 was more rounded and sometimes rousing, but it was fragmentary, a common failing in this genre, and Matsuev failed to rise above it.

The Chopin was followed by Tchaikovsky's Meditation, well played and with a touch of regret. The following Prokofiev Sonata No. 7 was sweeping and superbly executed. For me, the complete lack of struggle and total command of sonority (no acerbic sound allowed) sometimes worked against the work, but it was quite a performance nonetheless.

However, the crown jewel was what ended the first half, a magisterial rendering of Rachmaninov's Variations on a Theme by Corelli, which in lesser hands can be an utter bore. Uncommonly lucid and perfectly balanced, Matsuev revealed more of the work than anyone I have heard on record. Indeed, he made it appear not so far off from one of my favorite orchestral works, the Symphonic Dances. Whereas elsewhere (like in the Beethoven) his astonishingly powerful left hand can actually blur the inner voices, in this work he used it judiciously and coloristically, giving shape and a high degree of coherence and symphonic grandeur. A brilliant achievement, and one of the very best Rachmaninov, or any piano playing, I have heard. That alone was more than worth the price of admission.

Matsuev was straightforward in manner, walking briskly to and from the piano and giving a string of encores without prompting, though the wildly adulating audience could have gone on forever in applause. Five encores were performed, the best to me a touchingly simple traumerei.