Filed under: Reviews | Tags: Boettcher, Cui, Olga Kern, Rachmaninoff, Walter Damrosch
One of the reasons I like to hear Olga Kern perform is that she is not only a phenomenal pianist, she is also a first rate musician. Many people may think those two terms are synonymous, but they are not. Being a musician means that she has the knowledge and ability to understand what the composer wants, and perhaps even more important, is that she puts the music first and foremost, and places her pianism second. That is what all great performers do whether they be pianists, violinists, or singers. Because of this, I rank her with the recent great pianists such as Sviatislav Richter, John Browning, and Arthur Rubinstein. All of these pianists used their technical ability to show the public what the music is all about, and what the composer wanted to say. I do not have to point out that this is hallowed ground indeed, but I have heard her perform several times now, and I have been truly astounded at her mental prowess, as well as her technical ability at the keyboard. I sometimes find myself wondering if the general concert going public, who loves good music, has any idea of the mental effort it takes to learn and perform such a monstrous piece as the Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerto, let alone the fact that she is performing all of the Rachmaninoff concertos here in Denver. Do not think for a minute that simply because she is Russian that she automatically knows how to play Rachmaninoff. Simpatico has nothing to do with it. She is an astounding musician as well as an astounding pianist.
The Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto Nr. 3, in D minor, which Ms. Kern performed Saturday, October 17, was completed in 1909. Rachmaninoff had recently suffered setbacks in his confidence as a composer, at least once, due to the vitriolic comments of César Cui, who was a composer as well as a critic (he was one of the so-called “Mighty Five”, and could be as acid tongued as Camille Saint-Saëns). Even though Rachmaninoff had had astounding success with his Second Piano Concerto, he was somewhat fearful of competing with himself. This Concerto was premiered on November 4, 1909, with Walter Damrosch conducting the New York Symphony Society Orchestra (it amazes me that Damrosch does not mention this premiere, nor does he even mention Rachmaninoff in his biography entitled, “My Musical Life,” which was published in 1923). He performed it again in January of 1910 with Gustav Mahler conducting, but this time with the New York Philharmonic. Rachmaninoff received rave reviews for his playing, but the concerto itself received mixed reviews because of its length. He, therefore, allowed for cuts to be made so as to shorten the entire piece, and it was performed this way several times. But, today it is performed the way it was originally written, and we should all be eternally grateful for that, because it is an absolutely remarkable piece, not only in its beauty, but in its technical difficulty.
As it should be known by now, Olga Kern is capable of playing Rachmaninoff the way it should be played, that is to say, the way he wanted it to be played. Rachmaninoff opens his concerto with a very lyrical theme played in octaves. Kern, as some pianists do, does not make this overly sentimental, but allows the music to speak for itself – the sign of a good musician.
And I must say, as I have said before, I simply do not understand why the people at Boettcher Concert Hall insist on amplifying the piano. And, if they want to do so, why do they have to put the microphone inside the nose of the piano. This was also done at Gates Hall a week ago or so, when Murray Perahia performed. I suppose someone at Boettcher decided that Kern was incapable of the necessary power to be heard in the seats furthest from the stage. They are absolutely dead wrong. The results of the amplification kept Ms. Kern from producing the dynamics of which she is capable. In other words, the piano was never quite soft enough. There are many places in this concerto, as big as it is, where the piano is subservient to the orchestra, and I am sure that on stage that is the way it sounded. But in the audience, it was too loud. I am absolutely baffled by the supposed need to amplify the piano. It also distorts the sound. Why don’t those responsible just stand out in the hall at a rehearsal and listen? Maybe they would learn something.
The orchestra and the piano exchange this incredibly lyrical opening theme, and out of it grows some very rapid finger work and some ferocious climaxes that lead into the cadenza. It was after the cadenza where the amplification of the piano was really noticeable. It did not ruin the performance, but it certainly affected it.
The theme of the second movement is in A major and is stated in the orchestra. The entrance of the piano is almost explosive when compared to the nearly pastorale character of the orchestra. But if one listens carefully, one hears the opening theme from the first movement of this concerto stated in the middle of this second movement, but it is in the key of D flat major, quite a switch from the opening key of A major. That Rachmaninoff is able to make such a distant modulation is because D flat is the enharmonic spelling of C sharp, which is the middle note of an A major chord.
The third movement is no doubt the most difficult. It is quite similar to a theme and variations for indeed, Rachmaninoff does bring back two melodies from the first movement. There is a long coda which is very exciting and full of the most technically demanding writing for the keyboard. Olga Kern is such a fine pianist but she was able to make incredible music in these monumentally difficult spots rather than just hammer out the notes. You must understand that Rachmaninoff was such a superlative pianist that he could play like this all day (Rachmaninoff also had a phenomenal memory and was a remarkable sight reader). At the time of his death in 1943, Rachmaninoff was simply the finest musician-pianist since Franz Liszt, Clara Schumann, and Frédéric Chopin. Olga Kern is one pianist today who stands forefront of those ready to take Rachmaninoff’s mantle.
After the intermission, the Colorado Symphony performed Rachmaninoff’s tone poem, The Isle of The Dead, which Maestro Kahane pointed out to the audience, has not been performed in Denver since 1952. Rachmaninoff composed this piece in 1907, and conducted its premiere performance in Moscow on May 1, 1909. It was inspired by a painting done by the Swiss painter, Arnold Böcklin. The painting is very dark, and depicts a rowboat carrying a coffin to an island which is almost nothing but cliffs with an opening through which the boat must pass. There is a figure standing in the bow of the boat, shrouded in white, guarding the coffin, while a single oarsman guides the boat to the island. Rachmaninoff begins this solemn work with a 6/8 meter in the low strings, the violas completing the second half of a phrase begun by the cellos. It becomes a very grim barcarole, and as the undulation becomes more animated, the theme is taken up by the oboe. At length, one can hear the familiar theme of the Dies irae of the Requiem Mass. Rachmaninoff used this theme, and hints at it, in several of his compositions, including the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini which was performed after this symphonic poem. Rachmaninoff used this theme so often that one wonders if he was as obsessed by it as he was by the sound of bells. Indeed, one can hear bells in almost every single piece he composed. He once said that as a youth, he loved hearing the bells at Easter time.
The last work on this program was the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Opus 43. This is a set of variations which uses the theme from Paganini’s 24th Caprice in A minor for a set of twenty-four variations which Rachmaninoff cast in a remarkable four-movements-in-one composition. The first 11 variations form the first movement which is fast, Variations 12 through 15 form a minuet, Variations 16 through 18 are the slow movement, and Variations 19 through 24 are the final, fast movement. I am sure that everyone in the audience recognized Variation 18, as it has been used in several Hollywood films. It is the epitome of Rachmaninoff’s melodic skill, but most do not realize that it is Paganini’s theme turned upside down. This is a technique that one would ascribe more to Rachmaninoff’s great contemporary composer, Arnold Schoenberg. This piece throughout, has many sly touches, for example, Rachmaninoff places the first variation before the entrance of the theme. And as stated above, it is one of several compositions in which Rachmaninoff quotes the Dies Irae theme from the medieval Requiem Mass.
Olga Kern’s performance of this work was above reproach. Her musicianship is wonderful to behold as is her piano technique. Ms. Kern has two more performances for this Rachmaninoff Festival month; Friday, October 23, and Saturday, August 24, both at 7:30 PM. You have to go.
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