Boris Berman Recital - Piano! No No NO!
August 17th 2009 03:03
Late last week I attended one of the ANAM Piano! 2009 recitals – that of Boris Berman. The recital began with selected Chopin Nocturnes, (Op. 15, Op. 27 and Op. 32). Many of the passages that were improvisatory in these night pieces sounded glossed over, and I’m undecided as to whether I think it was pure arrogance on the part of the artist, or that was the effect he was looking for - only he could tell us more about that. I cannot understand why a pianist of such skill would seek to glide over passages of virtuosity in a haze of pedal, but this is largely how it sounded. By all means reveal your pianistic virtuosity, (preferably without ego) but perhaps think more carefully about the spirit of the repertoire. This type of shimmering belongs in the music of Debussy and Ravel, not Chopin.
The Opus 27 No. 2 in D flat Nocturne has the tempo marking Lento Sostenuto (slowly and sustained) but what I heard was too fast. I also felt the manner in which he played was larger than the piece demanded, the fortissimos being almost heavy-handed, and the pedalling lacked clarity. These pieces are chromatic and must be pedalled with greater precision than I thought was shown on this evening – everything seemed to be half-pedalled with the overall effect being muddy – he was playing on a beautiful Steinway grand, and it deserved more respect than that. Over all the first half of this programme was disappointing – apart from anything else, there were more wrong notes than one would have expected from a concert pianist of this calibre, and there was simply no love in the playing.
Enter the post-interval programme of Debussy – Images I and II, and Estampes. I was very apprehensive about the pianist’s ability to capture the essence of these impressionistic gems of pieces, but I was pleasantly surprised. Berman treated this repertoire with more like the delicacy it deserves and he even appeared to enjoy playing it. Again though, there were passages which I felt were heavy-handed – there is an accompanimental figure towards the end of Pagodes in the right hand which was too loud and drowned out the melody in the left hand. Things like this seemed to permeate the entire concert, and it’s a pretty basic thing to actually listen to what you’re playing and make the appropriate adjustments if something is too loud in one hand.
There is no doubting this man’s ability to play – technically he is astounding, but he failed to impress with his interpretations last week. It could have been an unforgettable concert with that great choice of programme, but sadly, not this time.
The Opus 27 No. 2 in D flat Nocturne has the tempo marking Lento Sostenuto (slowly and sustained) but what I heard was too fast. I also felt the manner in which he played was larger than the piece demanded, the fortissimos being almost heavy-handed, and the pedalling lacked clarity. These pieces are chromatic and must be pedalled with greater precision than I thought was shown on this evening – everything seemed to be half-pedalled with the overall effect being muddy – he was playing on a beautiful Steinway grand, and it deserved more respect than that. Over all the first half of this programme was disappointing – apart from anything else, there were more wrong notes than one would have expected from a concert pianist of this calibre, and there was simply no love in the playing.
Enter the post-interval programme of Debussy – Images I and II, and Estampes. I was very apprehensive about the pianist’s ability to capture the essence of these impressionistic gems of pieces, but I was pleasantly surprised. Berman treated this repertoire with more like the delicacy it deserves and he even appeared to enjoy playing it. Again though, there were passages which I felt were heavy-handed – there is an accompanimental figure towards the end of Pagodes in the right hand which was too loud and drowned out the melody in the left hand. Things like this seemed to permeate the entire concert, and it’s a pretty basic thing to actually listen to what you’re playing and make the appropriate adjustments if something is too loud in one hand.
There is no doubting this man’s ability to play – technically he is astounding, but he failed to impress with his interpretations last week. It could have been an unforgettable concert with that great choice of programme, but sadly, not this time.
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