pianomania: SSO GALA: KRYSTIAN ZIMERMAN IN CONCERT / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

SSO GALA:

KRYSTIAN ZIMERMAN

IN CONCERT

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Wednesday (7 December 2022)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 14 December 2022 with the title "Zimerman's direct playing gives Beethoven freshness".

Legendary Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman is one name guaranteed to sell out the box-office at Singapore’s Esplanade Concert Hall, even for two evenings. An originally planned Beethoven piano concerto cycle in 2020 had to be shelved by the Covid-19 pandemic, but to witness him performing just one Beethoven concerto and conducting a symphony was good enough for most.

Beethoven’s Fourth Concerto opens with a G major chord, and the short solo that followed could not be delivered in a more plain-spoken manner. No special effects were needed, and the orchestral tutti was crafted with the same simplicity and directness. Ultimately, the work was treated as chamber music with keyboard soloist as leader, and Zimerman fulfilled that role to a tee.

His playing was transparent and articulate, and the orchestra’s partnership had both lightness and mobility. At the movement’s close, Beethoven’s own first movement cadenza was played, and this was as idiomatic as to be expected.

Very brusque unison strings came without a break after the closing chord, and Zimerman reacted as if shocked by the seeming rebuke. There was a long pause before the piano’s entry as a soothing salve. Here, the famous description of “Orpheus taming the Furies” about the central movement was taken both literally and theatrically. The strings superbly marshalled by concertmaster Igor Yuzefovich went from a fierce roar to a pacified purr.

The finale was lively and buoyant, a continuation of the earlier lightness, culminating with an audacious downward glissando and upward chromatic scale. Many in the audience would have heard this concerto many times, but Zimerman injected a freshness which made this encounter an enriching one.

Encouraged by the applause, Zimerman pondered on his encores with some banter to the appreciative audience and settled with three little gems. Chopin’s Nocturne in F sharp major (Op.15 No.2), Brahms’ Intermezzo in B flat minor (Op.117 No.2) and Szymanowski’s Prelude in B minor (Op.1 No.1, which he recently recorded) were rendered with much colour and beauty.

Those expecting a sharp drop of Zimerman’s interpretive abilities as the conductor in Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony would be left disappointed. For his was a no-nonsense reading, served up without any idiosyncracy. This was instead one mustered with clarity and directness. Earlier in January, the orchestra had performed this same symphony with swiftness and litheness under Music Director Hans Graf. This performance had a similar lightness and immediacy, with simply no posturing for its own sake.

While the first two movements were taken straight, the rustic Scherzo could possibly have done with Beethoven’s simulation of ungainliness, one which Graf brought out so perfectly. The finale’s rapid tarantella rhythm was launched into fearlessly, with strings in fine form from start to end. With the gala concert brought to a spectacular close, it may be said that the SSO has attained a very satisfying level of playing, sustained with a consistency that is truly admirable.

A more extended version of the review was first published on BachTrack on 8 December 2022:

Striking Beethoven with Krystian Zimerman leading from the keyboard in Singapore | Bachtrack

Here are the pictures Krystian Zimerman did not want you to see (photographs uncredited):