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Stravinsky, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff: Radu Lupu (piano), Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Peter Oundjian, Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, 12.2.2009 (PPLL)

Stravinsky: Scherzo Fantastique, Op.3 (1908)
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.3 in C Minor, Op.37 (1803)
Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances (1940)


Call it a critic’s night off ; a time to put away pens and notebooks, adjectives and superlatives, and simply to listen to music performed to the highest standards,  a performance defined by old and new friendships, artistry and precision. This was a delightful evening you felt running through your bones and muscles  -  such was the intensity of joy shared by performers and listeners alike. The chosen music by Beethoven, Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky were long-time TSO orchestral favorites but the added bonus was the  piano soloist  – a  Radu Lupu, who last visited and performed with the TSO in the early 90s.  He returned with double  excitement in Beethoven’s mighty Piano Concerto No.3.

The hall tonight was over 90% packed, filled with  listeners of all ages and background, who came to experience the “intimately powerful sound” that defines Toronto's orchestra. The concert opened with one of Stravinsky’s student works, the Scherzo fantastique Op.3, which has the proper zing to get a concert on the road. At the finer intimate moments, the TSO sound has the sweet timbre of a chamber ensemble, but also a finesse with bold statements that are both warm and pleasing. As discussed by Rick Phillips during his enlightening pre-concert talk, the Scherzo fantastique showed the influence on Stravinsky as a student by his music teacher Rimsky-Korsakov. But  there were also idioms reminiscent of Paul Dukas, interspersed by rhythms and syncopations traceable to jazz. With multiphonics and special effects, birdlike woodwind textures and shimmering strings from the TSO musicians, the piece  transported us into an enchanted forest of bewitching sounds. Highlights included flutist Nora Shulman and clarinetist Joaquin Valdepeñas, both magicians on their instruments. Each produced sounds higher than one would think possible, but with a delicacy of  expression that the sounds  felt  musical rather than  a party trick. This piece was a great opener to start off the evening.

Next, came the Beethoven. Have you ever wondered exactly when this composer  became the phenomenon we now know as ‘Beethoven?’ According to Rick Phillips, a good estimate would be sometime on the evening of April 5^th, 1803, the very evening he premiered his Third Piano Concerto as part of a massive concert of his music. Gone was the equilibrium of the first two concertos, to be  replaced by a bold, muscular and symphonic voice. In abandoning the fixed forms of  Classical style, here we have a piece pushing for “more, more, and more” to make its unequestionable impact. And who else would play the work better than Radu Lupu ?

The Third Piano Concerto has always been central in Lupu’s heart, and has  long been part of his regular repertoire. In fact, this was the very Beethoven concerto with which he captured the world’s attention in 1969, when he claimed first prize in the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition. Now, at the age of 64, and having performed this particular work on numerous occasions, Lupu is still discovering fresh things to say about it. Anyone listening to Lupu will quickly recognize the spontaneous, freshly-minted freedom of his playing  -  and how different and  refreshing was his  cadenza in the first movement!

The opening of this concerto (in C Minor, the composers only minor keyed piano concerto) reminded us inescapably of its  influences from Mozart, another of Lupu’s favorites  - notably the Piano Concerto No.24 in the same key. But very soon, we were left in no doubt that if Mozart was the parent, the child Beethoven had become ready to leave home. The Third  Concerto has ideas almost made for the heated power and pristine control of Lupu’s playing: from the theatrical drama of the first movement, to the grace of the second , through to the Rondo ‘variations’  of the third. Lupu’s expressive line on the piano brought heightened tensions with other solo instruments (flute and bassoon calls for instance) from the orchestra. Peter Oundjian and Lupu exchanged eye contact  frequently, making their interpretation feel as musically spontaneous as it was prepared. Like all great conductors of his time, Oundjian has strong ideas of how masterpieces should be performed but  when  partnered by artists like Lupu, he enjoys giving the soloist every degree of freedom. It is hard not to by the understanding between soloist and conductor, especially  in  the intimate moments when the piano engaged in 'question and answer' dialogues with the Orchestra. Now and again, Lupu would also appear to conduct himself, one hand over the other, while humming along with the melody.  Anyone who has heard Radu Lupu practice will know how carefully he prepares every detail of the score. Yet, despite performing this Concerto for over 30 years, he  continues to have novel ideas to share, making each performance of this work feel like a brand new discovery for the benefit his audience.  Ironically, while Lupu genuinely dislikes being at the center of attention (he has not conducted any interviews or spoken in front of a microphone for nearly two decades) he remains at his best when he is in front of an audience. He clearly thinks hard before performing and so  becomes almost a philosopher of the piano.

Remembered for its expansive harmonies and grandiose orchestral textures, Rachmaninoff's  Symphonic Dances Op.45  remain best known in their orchestral version as the composer’s last orchestral score while living in the West. The three dances are full of nostalgia, deriving from an ailing and home-sick man  who would never to return to Russia. Certainly, melancholy prevails as the overall mood of this piece,  interspersing as it does, the song-like tune  significantly given to the saxophone in the first movement, with quotations from  earlier works like the First Symphony and the Vespers' Dies Irae .

Peter Oundjian brought out the very best from his  musicians here  in all sections while allowing his soloists to share in the honors. This was one of the highlights of the season so far. From the long, elegiac melody introduced by the alto saxophonist in the first movement to the grand orchestral textures of the the third the TSO musicians touched many hearts in the crowd. The standing ovations at the end of the evening felt like copies the “Alleluia” written on Rachmaninoff's score.

Patrick P L  Lam


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