Severance
Hall
March
7
A holdover from an era of understated elegance. |
Rudolph
Buchbinder was his usual brilliant self playing Rachmaninoff on
Friday night. But the star of the show was the Cleveland Orchestra’s
assistant conductor, Brett Mitchell. Like a pinch-hitter in baseball,
Mitchell has to be prepared to step up to the plate every week,
though he rarely gets the call. When Franz Welser-Möst
phoned in sick on Friday afternoon, it was Mitchell’s time to
shine.
Which
he did immediately with Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody
on a Theme of Paganini.
This is a piece that can become heavy and schmaltzy, and almost
always does. The audience fixates on the familiar melody in the 18th
variation, and if it gushes, everybody goes home happy. Mitchell took
the opposite tack, starting with a light, agile sound that
complemented the dramatic piano lines, providing a buoyant backdrop
that didn’t get in the way. He stayed just shy of sentimental in
the melody, letting it swell but keeping it clean and crisp, never
overwhelming the soloist.
Buchbinder
is a pro’s pro, a holdover from an era of playing without
histrionics. He came out on stage in an open-necked white shirt, de
rigueur
casual for a Fridays@7 concert, sat arm’s-length from the keyboard
and went to work. No fancy flourishes, no body language or banging,
just a breathtakingly proficient reading that was both smooth and
smart. His piano lines flowed with an easy mastery, riding the music
and keeping it in balance, giving the solos color and character, then
blending into the orchestral passages to add depth and texture.
What
may be most remarkable about Buchbinder is the way he manages to
infuse a piece he has obviously played many times with spontaneity,
crafting a fresh, sparkling sound – in this case, in tandem with
the conductor. Some notes fall by the wayside, but Buchbinder is not
interested in a note-perfect performance. He has an artist’s sense
of the bigger picture, which he builds in grand strokes and small
ones, finely detailed in some sections, broad and sweeping in others,
pulling the audience along in a rush of pure musicality.
The
abbreviated Friday program offered a brief nod to the Richard Strauss
anniversary year, the composer’s 1888 tone poem Don
Juan.
Mitchell offered a brisk, lively reading, not very deep or emotional,
instead polished and bright. It started off a bit thin, but the sound
filled out nicely in the later sections of the piece, with the
conductor showing fine control of the orchestra. One might have
wished for more color from the horns and woodwinds. That, however, is
the sort of fine-tuning conductors do in rehearsal, not from the
podium in performance.
And
a quick follow-up from the other Strauss – Johann Jr. – was
effervescent, brimming with gaiety and charm. The waltz From
the Mountains
sounded anything but clichéd, flush with warm tones, sharp
percussion, burnished horns and a champagne brio. The brief pauses, a
trademark of Strauss waltzes, were clear and precise, putting a fine
edge on the whirling melodies. A closing Czárdás opened with a
witty gasp from the violins, then set off on a free-spirited
romp, galloping to a snappy finish.
That
propelled the audience into the foyer, where the New York Gypsy
All-Stars were already playing. It was a bit of a shock, with the
last strains of 19th-century Vienna still hanging in the air when
they were suddenly steamrolled by modern electric pop. But no
one seemed to mind, as the foyer quickly filled and
the crowd overflowed up the stairs and onto the mezzanine.
And
why not? The band was good. Still, the energy started inside the
hall, where a last-minute sub had just hit a home run.
For
more on Rudolf Buchbinder:
http://www.buchbinder.net/
Photo by Marco Borggreve
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