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United States Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano and conductor), Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Benaroya Hall, Seattle, 04.01.2023. (ZC)
Haydn – Keyboard Concerto in F main H.XVIII:3
Beethoven – Piano Concerto No.2 in B-flat main Op.19
Mozart – Piano Concerto No.26 in D main Okay.537, ‘Coronation’
The names Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven are virtually synonymous with Western music’s Classical Period. But whereas one is perhaps aware of the same old suspects of their repertoires, the Seattle Symphony’s latest program that includes pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet promised a refreshing tackle these masters in three of their lesser-known piano concerti.
Franz Joseph Haydn’s Piano Concerto in F Major was the opener. Audiences don’t hear Haydn’s piano concerti as typically as his items for violin and cello. Some of this can be a results of their ambiguous origins, and the straightforward geniality of the writing exudes courtly affability. But Bavouzet’s interpretation prevented these pitfalls, as an alternative emphasizing the wit and power of Haydn’s writing in a efficiency that felt like a real partnership with the orchestra.
Bavouzet promptly returned to the stage for Beethoven’s second piano concerto. ‘Officially’ composed in 1793, the piece is definitely Beethoven’s first piano concerto. He doubtless started writing it across the time that Mozart composed his Coronation Concerto in 1788. Hewing to the conventions of the day, younger Beethoven’s imaginative and prescient for what music might talk feels trapped by expectations that this eventual revolutionary was not but able to dismantle. Bavouzet’s efficiency was a captivating glimpse into Beethoven’s early years as a composer and a reminder that the Beethoven we all know and love right now didn’t sprout absolutely shaped as a transformational composer, Fifth Symphony and ‘Emperor’ Piano Concerto in hand. He was at all times a piece in progress.
Juxtaposed towards Haydn, this extra nuanced view of Beethoven grew to become obvious. As in Haydn’s concerto, Beethoven’s first effort pulses with wit and power – and is extra of a partnership between soloist and orchestra, not a heroic manifestation for soloists that the composer’s later concerti had been. Still, the Second Concerto at occasions hints at this high quality, nearly like a preview of paradigm-shifts to return. This was most evident within the opening motion of the primary motion, the place Bavouzet’s entrance brims with misdirection, and all through the second motion, the place the piano leads the orchestra in a ruminating and satisfying back-and-forth.
Bavouzet closed with Mozart’s ‘Coronation’ Concerto. At one time, this work was among the many hottest within the repertory, and its emphasis on distinguishing the solo piano from the orchestra made it a showcase for Mozart’s personal virtuosic skills.
According to lecturers, that is most evident within the work’s second motion: a easy melody dominates, however within the rating, the composer layers it on high of an equally easy bass line. Here, the pondering goes, is the place Mozart would unleash his pianistic genius, including improvised thrives that had been by no means written down. Yet even by itself, the melody as written comes throughout as a profound assertion which Bavouzet caressed to most impact, bringing a deeper degree of emotion and that means to the music.
Mozart generates sudden anticipation that Bavouzet and the orchestra exploited to nice impact. The Haydn and Beethoven concertos sometimes really feel like items you wind up and let go. Mozart, alternatively, takes the listener on a journey.
In the tip, the live performance was a triumph, and a reminder that even essentially the most acquainted works may be made new once more in the fitting interpretation. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and the Seattle Symphony created a mid-January gem that might be remembered lengthy after the town’s moist winter nights give technique to the refrain of spring.
Zach Carstensen