SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

 Jones, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff: Gerard Schwarz, conductor, John Lill, piano, Seattle Symphony, Benaroya Hall, Seattle, 12.9.2009 (BJ)


What with a cocktail reception to start the evening, and a lavish dinner with dancing to end it, the Seattle Symphony’s season opener had all the trappings of a gala occasion. The occasion being celebrated was the silver anniversary of Gerard Schwarz’s music directorhip – and fortunately, the maestro brought his listeners music-making that was of gala quality too.

Devotees of the romantic piano concertos often argue about favorites. Is Tchaikovsky’s No. 1 the supreme example? Or is it perhaps Rachmaninoff’s No. 3 that most spectacularly combines the genre’s attractions? Well, this program obviated the need to make a choice. We heard both of those supremely romantic and supremely Russian works, and the audience responded with the most vociferously sustained ovation I have witnessed in four years of regular attendance at Benaroya Hall concerts.

It was not the orchestra or its conductor alone that had earned such enthusiasm. Romantic piano concertos stand or fall, of course, by the merits of the soloist. You might call John Lill, whom we heard on this festive Saturday, the diametric opposite of the Lang Lang brand of virtuoso. Where the whizz-kids of the concert world impose their interpretative ideas on music from the outside, this unfailingly musical and technically impeccable British pianist draws his from a profound identification with what the composers wrote and from the traditions they worked in.

Lill’s playing was as commanding and eloquent in these two highly demanding warhorses of the repertoire, just as it had been in a whirlwind two-concert traversal of Beethoven’s five concertos back in 2007. He and Schwarz clearly see eye to eye on matters of style and interpretation, and the Seattle Symphony – whose members graciously donated their services in honor of the music director’s 25-year tenure – realized their vision with all the polish and power we have come to expect from an orchestra that Schwarz has transformed in that time from an ensemble of regional standards to one of world class. Aside from the big moments, there were fine solo contributions from guest principal cellist Eric Gaenslen and from Judy Kriewall, who occupied the first flute chair on this occasion.

Following an innovative week of no-intermission “Beethoven and Wine” pairings that came close to filling the hall, and kicking off with a brilliantly inventive little Fanfare and Celebration by composer-in-residence Samuel Jones, this official opening night was a good omen for the season.

Bernard Jacobson

This review appeared also in the Seattle Times.