SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Mendelssohn, Chopin: Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Ewa Kupiec (piano), Sebastian Lang-Lessing (conductor), City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney, 25.10.2007 (TP)

Mendelssohn: Overture: Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage,Op.27; Symphony No.3 in A Minor, Op.56 “Scottish”

Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E Minor, Op.11

Chopin's E minor piano concerto – actually his second, though published first – is not an easy piece to play well.  The concerto was conceived as a vehicle for the 20 year old Chopin's own virtuosity and, as such, its fistfuls of notes and knuckle-twisting cascades require more than mere barnstorming heroics.  The challenge of playing either of Chopin's concertos, and this one in particular, is to transcend the dazzle of the difficult writing with a singing eloquence.  That is just what Ewa Kupiec did in this performance.  She drew dew-drop sounds from the keys of her Steinway, and shaped her performance with an intuitive rubato.  She was also fully equal to the score's more vigorous demands, hitting the keys powerfully but undemonstratively where necessary.  The first movement was majestic, and her dancing rendition of the finale was wonderfully high-spirited without becoming boisterous.  The slow movement, so free and delicate in Kupiec's gentle hands, was utterly captivating.

The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra under Sebastian Lang-Lessing supported Kupiec as well as any orchestra can in this piece.  Chopin's score famously consigns the orchestra to the ignominy of being a backing band, but even though the orchestra does not really engage with dialogue with the soloist, it has to work hard to keep the backing genuinely supportive.  The TSO managed to do this, due in no small part to Lang-Lessing's committed direction.  He practically leapt off his podium to get the first movement going and stayed on his toes until the finale's final chord.

Earlier the orchestra impressed with a thoughtfully conceived performance of Mendelssohn's infrequently played overture, Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage.  There were some issues with the balancing of string and wind parts in the allegro – perhaps a consequence of the orchestra needing to adjust to the Sydney venue – but the opening adagio was meltingly beautiful.

The TSO was even more impressive though, in the taut performance of the Scottish Symphony that concluded the concert.  The orchestra is due to record this piece and the rest of Mendelssohn's symphonies for ABC Classics, and the diligent rehearsal that had gone into preparing this piece for touring and recording produced superb results.  After a flowing elegiac opening that brought out parallels with the funeral march of Beethoven's Eroica, Lang-Lessing began building the latent tension of the first movement, finally unleashing it in a wild depiction of Mendelssohn's storm scene before the elegy's return.  The scherzo's joyous lilt was infectious, with Lang-Lessing's attention to dynamics and Duncan Abercromby's dancing clarinet a delight.  Warm string tone and gentle legato phrasing gave the third movement a song-without-words soulfulness.  The finale was sharply etched, the drama heightened by the serried dynamics and unanimity of ensemble.  The triumphant coda was simply glorious.

This concert was the first in a series of three to be presented in the City Recital Hall, each commencing with a Mendelssohn overture, concluding with a Mendelssohn symphony and offering up Chopin's concertante works in between.  The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra is not a big band – it has only 47 musicians – but it plays to its strengths.  Under Sebastian Lang-Lessing, their young German chief conductor and artistic director, they have become formidable specialists in the music of the Classical and early Romantic periods.  If this year's Sydney series was built around two key figures of Romanticism's first bloom, next year's – their fourth – is a tribute to the boy geniuses: each concert will feature a Mendelssohn concerto, framed by Mozart's mature symphonies.  I can hardly wait.

Tim Perry