Tuesday 6 July, 1999 Victoria Concert Hall |
6th International Piano Festival 'Celebrating Chopin' |
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Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) The Four Ballades
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Nikolai DEMIDENKO piano |
OVERALL NOISE RATING:
2 (too engrossed in Demidenko, who could have covered any noise from the audience anyway. And the local audience still has the dubious habit of clapping in between two movements... of a Scarlatti.)
The Noise Rating Index is a partially-objective measurement of pager and handphone blasts, 9pm and 10pm watch beeps, coughing-during-the-pianissimo-bits, intra-audience conversation and other mind-bogglingly inept noises emitted in the concert hall during actual performance of music. It is measured on a scale of 0 to 5, in increasing annoyance.
This review has been kindly sponsored by the Singapore Symphonia Co. Ltd
by Soo Kian Hing
Tonight's programme is conveniently divided into a Chopin in the first half and Liszt in the second. As would be evident later on, there is no doubt about which half I enjoyed myself most, and felt Demidenko to be totally in his element.
Despite the fact that Chopin probably steered the piano world into Romanticism, he was really a purist at heart and never gave his works more than functional names, like "Scherzo" or "Nocturne". Likewise, his Ballades, which are widely alluded to as describing epic tales of wildly differing content, have no actual programmatic input from the composer himself. The interpretation of his works would then rely on the musicality of the performer, of how much the performer knew and felt, and capable of realising on an actual keyboard. Though Demidenko was really more than adequate at giving Chopin's technical writing a virtuosic airing, I believe these four pieces were meant more as dramatic poems rather than simple flights of fantasy, and as such merited more than a cursory reading.
The second half was more suited to Demidenko's style and he really outshone himself. Franz Liszt, though composing in the same period as Chopin, developed
improvisation and harmony to a more advanced degree, if only because he was more of a showman and also lived longer. But the early and middle-aged Liszt was essentially a fire-breathing dragon, contemporary of the devil of the bow, Paganini. Pianist-composers generally write in a comfortable playing style for themselves, and it was no wonder that
Liszt, with "fingers of steel", and who legendarily broke piano strings during a recital, wrote such technically difficult pieces in his youth that perhaps only he himself could bring them to their full potential and expressivity. However, no matter how elaborate or dense the ornamentation, the genius of Liszt was always able to prevent technique from obscuring the essence of thematic development - something Demidenko was able to do, after conquering the impossibilities of the hellish fingerwork.
July 3 - Dmitri Alexeev
Click on name for Inkpot review.
But Demidenko went one step further - instead of playing Liszt's pieces as were
written, he re-wrote most of them, giving the audience a glimpse of how Liszt
the virtuoso worked. For most of these pieces were themselves paraphrases of
others: operas by Donizetti and Verdi, and violin pieces by Paganini. One of
Liszt's purposes in writing transcriptions, besides making available for pianists what was originally orchestral repertoire, was to provide a outlet for his own overwhelming skills at improvisation and virtuosity. It is this aspect of Liszt that Demidenko unreservedly demonstrates tonight, as he began each piece as written, then proceeded to disappear into his own flights of fantasy, tossing off running octaves and flowing argeggios, riveting the audience with his fingers that could scorch keys and melt notes. Demidenko had suddenly transformed into Liszt in his prodigal heyday!
Overall, Demidenko seems to have surpassed his own technical brilliance and white-hot passion, but I would just prefer to hear, and feel, more intimate nuances and subtle colours when pieces call for it. Just like Icarus who, enraptured in his own joy, tried to fly too near the sun and as a result fell to his death when his wax wings melted, I wonder if Demidenko would continue to advance in his maturity of touch and sensitivity, giving a more balanced and satisfying performance. Many top-notch pianists have realised this at some point in their lives, including Horowitz, Martha Argerich, Van Cliburn, and, no less, the legendary Franz Liszt himself.
Nikolai Demidenko arguably has, as virtuosos go, among the most phenomenal technique these days - coupled with temperamental and fiery interpretations, he makes perfect fodder for virtuoso pianist-composers like Liszt and the Russian Late Romantics. However, the four Chopin Ballades that he started with were expected to give him an opportunity to express his lyrical side, and at the same time give the audience an idea of how Chopin's musical ideas and compositional skills evolved as the composer matured from travelling pianist into national hero.
The Ballades were written at different periods in Chopin's life, with the result that the first Ballade has an easy melody with conveniently flashy embellishments; the last has more unconventional thematic material, and relies heavily on the pianist's ability to create colourful nuances as a storyteller rather than on dazzling technique. Demidenko fared well in the first Ballade; he in no way toned down his wanton virtuosity for Chopin, who in this piece wrote with matching technical brilliance. The contrast between idyll and nightmare was also effectively stark in the Second Ballade; yet, in the two later Ballades, one would have felt that more sensitivity in bringing out Chopin's minute nuances could make all the difference. Demidenko was undeniably a passionate player, but his interpretation of the Ballades was, I felt, more one-dimensional than enlightening or even illustrative.
6th International
Piano Festival 1999
July 4 - Piers Lane
July 5 - Artur Pizarro
July 6 - Nikolai Demidenko
Demidenko obliged with four encores: two Scarlatti pieces spaced by two Rachmaninov Preludes (Op.23, no.2 and no.7 - both pieces of outspoken virtuosity), perhaps following the style of another firebrand, the late Vladimir Horowitz, who favoured Scarlatti and Rachmaninov as well. The two
Rachmaninov Preludes were performed with plenty of Demidenk-ian technique tied to a Russian heart, a seamless recipe for the composer himself. The Scarlatti Sonatas were delightful in their miniaturity as well,
though of course with plenty of Demidenko thrown in.
Even as we speak, Soo Kian Hing is having tea with Mozart.
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