Looking at some
of the concert reviews of Mikhail Pletnev’s performances of
the Beethoven concertos he is quite prepared to take interpretative
risks, and in courting controversy has inevitably come in for
a deal of negative criticism. On their website promotion, DG
points out that “Like Beethoven himself, Pletnev is a pianist,
a conductor, and a composer… He strongly believes in interpretative
freedom and an artist’s obligation not to deliver a “mausoleum-like
performance” but rather to make classical music come to life
by using it to communicate his own emotions to the audience.”
Pletnev himself says “For me Beethoven is like a god. I worship
him, and I admire his music. It always produces very deep emotions
in me when I’m conducting it or playing it on the piano.”
As a composer and
a performing musician myself I do know what it is like to perform
one’s own music in public. There is the score of course, and
if one is performing alongside other musicians then there is
always a responsibility not to go so far off the wall so that
the whole thing falls apart. There is however also that small
demon on one’s shoulder who is saying “it’s my music – I’ll
play it any damn way I want to.” In this regard I can appreciate
how – feeling at one with Beethoven as he does, Pletnev can
express a similar kind of freedom in the way he performs these
works. I wholly agree with Pletnev’s statement that the music
should communicate emotionally, that “It should go from heart
to heart”, and if the means for doing so go beyond mere convention
or some kind of stagnant performing tradition then so be it:
as long as the results respect Beethoven’s intentions – or the
performer’s honest idea of what those intentions can be at that
moment, and these are very much live performances after all.
I have traveled
around with this CD for a few days, playing it at full volume
in the car on the way to rehearsals and recording sessions.
While there are some eccentric moments I’ve never found myself
really put off by anything Pletnev does – on the contrary, the
differences have kept my attention and renewed my interest in
these works. I’m all for expanding beyond the boundaries set
by other musicians, and I’m sure that Pletnev would come in
for as much criticism if he held the middle ground in these
concertos. For a start, he gains my appreciation in selecting
a Blüthner concert grand piano for these performances. The ubiquitous
Steinway has its qualities, but I remember enjoying the richness
and bass depth of the Blüthner pianos in the Royal Academy of
Music practice rooms, and I wasn’t the only one who preferred
them. A good instrument will give you such a variety of colour,
and where Steinway may win in terms of sparkle and sheer power,
a good Blüthner can mirror the sound of the orchestra, blending
and imitating with the other instruments as well as lording
it over everyone as a big shiny soloist. There are enough places
in these recordings where Pletnev swims like an ivory coloured
fish through the orchestral textures, rather than sitting on
top of them like a gaudy crown, and I appreciate the intimacy
of this relationship between orchestra and piano.
The five Piano Concertos,
spread over three discs in this cycle, were recorded live with
the same orchestra over two days during the 2006 Beethoven Festival
in Bonn. Conductor Christian Gansch is a regular guest conductor
with this orchestra, and the players clearly respond well to
his leadership. Like the set of Beethoven’s complete symphonies
conducted by Pletnev that I also had the privilege to review,
this concentrated time span seems to have generated its own
kind of intensity. There is no sense of compression or desperate
hurry in the performances, but they do have a kind of pioneering,
‘on the edge’ feel to them – not in the sense of potential if
unrealised disaster at every corner, but in the sense of a special
event – the atmosphere of the beginning of something new, rather
than the culmination of long hours of hard work. The orchestra
I do have to say sounds marvellous in these recordings, with
warm bass and strings, nicely rounded wind sounds, and the kind
of synergy with their founder which made those Mozart concertos
with Murray Perahia and the English Chamber Orchestra so special.
Pletnev’s opening
in the first movement of the Concerto No.2 is rather
sharp, almost hectoring against the pleasant, relatively benign
orchestra. He places pianistic staccato against orchestral legato,
but when the melody takes a more important role later on he
can introduce the necessary changes of colour and legato lines.
This to me is a ‘wide awake’ performance, throwing in accents
where one might not expect them, but as a result maintaining
a high level of interest and expectancy – and yes, surprise,
which is what Czerny said Beethoven sought most in his own playing
style. The gorgeous second movement’s Adagio is warmly
introduced by all concerned, Pletnev singing a quiet, loving
aria with the piano – his own vocalisations also audible in
the background. When released from the full accompaniment of
the orchestra there is always a slight sense of danger with
Pletnev – he holds power in reserve, but seems sometimes almost
loth to rein it in, allowing the peaks and troughs of phrases
to hold as much dynamic as they can handle – singing across
the orchestra and audience. There are some truly magical quiet,
almost silent moments towards the end of the movement as well,
and the piano solo at the opening of the Rondo breaks
in like a party of drunks on the most tender of love scenes.
The final movement is rousing and sportive, Pletnev toying with
the tempi with great dips of rubato during some of the solos,
and revelling in the left hand octave leaps, the Blüthner punching
out rich bass tones but as equally agile in the sparkle of the
treble.
With applause only
right at the end of the CD, the well behaved audience doesn’t
figure much at all on this recording. The opening of the Concerto
No.4 is, after the initial bars call to attention, like
a quiet prayer. As the movement proper gets underway the pastoral
character of Beethoven’s 6th Symphony is recalled
to a certain extent – cheerful feelings in a person on arriving
in the concert-hall; and Pletnev gives us plenty to smile about
with truly bravura playing, effortlessly negotiating some spectacular
twists and turns. The rhythmic four note motif of the 5th
symphony inhabits this movement like a pervasive but shadowy
character – Hitchcock behind a curtain – but with neither pianist
or conductor over-emphasising it. There is far too much going
on to pin down one or other aspect as a characterising factor,
each musical fragment full of variation and detail. Pletnev’s
improvisatory approach with the cadenza is refreshing, although
there may be some who frown on some moments of perceived over-pedalling.
I find some of the quasi-antique effects quite invigorating,
where Pletnev almost seems to want to make the huge grand sound
like an early fortepiano. He certainly grabs attention through
a wealth of ideas, with very little which is ‘standard’ in this
feast of ‘living’ Beethoven. In the Andante con moto
Pletnev almost takes back seat, the piano initially sidling
towards the orchestras gruff statements with seemingly unrelated
material. This recitative creates atmosphere, but also generates
more questions than it does answers – turned into something
modern and strange. As with the second concerto, the final Rondo
has zest and athletic drive. Beethoven is no longer satisfied
with merely an energetic gallop however, and the fascinating
twists and turns of the first movement are recalled with spectacular
variations. As with all of the other movements on this recording,
there is never a sense of transition in the music – no hanging
around waiting for one climax or another: instead each segment
and every note has significance and value, in many cases beyond
that which I’ve heard them given on other recordings.
There may be many
and various arguments as to why these performances might be imperfect,
but to my mind life is too short for mithering about trifles when
presented with such visceral and stimulating musicianship. I shall
certainly be looking out for the other discs in this set, and
my Beethoven collection will be unquiet until I have them.
Dominy Clements
Mikhail Pletnev
(piano) 
