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University Centre Auditorium
October 6, 2006
"The prospect of having to sit through one of his extended symphonies or piano concertos tends, quite frankly, to depress me. All those notes, think I, and to what end?"
Not everybody feels the same way about Sergei Rachmaninov's music as did Aaron Copland; and, in the popularity stakes, it must be admitted that there are probably many people who love Rachmaninov's concertos (well, two of the four) but could not name a single piece by Copland.
Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.3 has acquired something of a reputation over the years: it is probably the most technically challenging of any concerto in the standard repertoire; furthermore, if you believe Hollywood (probably not recommended) it can even drive you mad.
Lisa Tahara was the spectacular soloist in Friday's performance of this "beast" of a concerto. Evidently neither the concerto's reputation nor its technical difficulties concerned her in the least. Indeed, at the end of the work she looked as calm and unruffled as she had before it began.
Dazzling virtuosity is one thing, but Tahara also gave a very musical performance - the two do not necessarily walk hand-in-hand - her pacing and control of the long first movement cadenza, for example, were impeccable.
Although the focus of attention in the concerto is inevitably on the soloist, János Sándor and the orchestra accompanied superbly, with a full-bodied orchestral palette. Sándor's rapport with his soloist was excellent, accommodating her more dramatic rubato with ease. More dramatically, when at the work's opening, Tahara entered two bars early (I suspect enthusiasm rather than nerves) he seamlessly dropped two bars from the accompaniment and I suspect that few in the audience noticed.
If I have one small criticism of an otherwise first-rate and very well balanced performance, it is that at the big climaxes Tahara did not quite dominate the sound in the way that I suspect the composer intended. A bit more "oomph" would not have gone amiss.
But this is a minor cavil to set aside the performance's manifold attributes.
However you decide to render the spelling of his name, I doubt if Alexander Arutanian is ever destined to become a household name - except, perhaps, in his native Armenia.
His trumpet concerto, for instance, which seems to be one of his better-known works, may present the soloist with formidable challenges, but I cannot help but feel that were the trumpet's solo repertoire somewhat larger, Arutanian's concerto would not have made the cut. At times it sounds reminiscent of the sort of music one associates with Spanish bullfighting, like the soundtrack to a forgotten movie, even like something Shostakovich might have produced, had he been suffering from a severe hangover (and rather less talent).
None of which should be permitted to detract from the achievement of Timothy Quinlan, who played the concerto on Friday. The opening, with the soloist playing over tremolando chords, was most arresting and Quinlan combined a superb technique with a marvellously mellow and fluid sound.
The fact that my attention was held throughout the work I attribute to Quinlan's playing and the excellent - though alas, eminently forgettable - accompaniment. I just wish I could be more enthusiastic about the music itself. For me, it rarely rose above the banal.
The music of Cecile Chaminade has been undergoing a small revival in recent years, although her piano music has received most of the attention.
The Concertino for Flute, Op.107, proved to be a delightful work, whose dominant mood was a sort of solemn pastoralism, enlivened with frothier, eminently French, passages.
Katherine Rogers performed the music exactly as it should be, with grace and lightness. Her playing was full of character and her phrasing excellent. Delectable music and performance.
Unusually, the evening opened with music for orchestra alone, in the shape of Verdi's overture to La forza del destino.
From the opening, with its forceful and dramatic brass and urgent strings, it was clear that this latest incarnation of the UVic orchestra is a force to be reckoned with.
Admittedly the ensemble was stiffened with a leavening (am I mixing my metaphors?) of faculty - by my reckoning fourteen of the sixty seven players - but there were clearly no passengers and the full orchestra produced a formidable sound.
Sándor directed a fine performance which almost disguised the somewhat episodic nature of the music. I did wonder, though, after the exciting (and loud) conclusion, how the opera could possibly be anything but an anticlimax.
This, oddly enough, was the first Concerto Concert I have managed to attend in almost fifteen years of reviewing.
It most definitely will not be the last.
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