United States Kendall, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff: Behzod Abduraimov (piano), San Francisco Symphony / Juraj Valčuha (conductor). Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, 4.11.2022. (HS)
Hannah Kendall – The Spark Catchers
Prokofiev – Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor
Rachmaninoff – Symphonic Dances
Neither pianist Behzod Abduraimov nor conductor Juraj Valčuha are strangers to the San Francisco Symphony stage. Together for the primary time right here, they delivered a high-wattage live performance centered on Russian showpieces.
Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor and Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances can simply make their factors with high-level execution of their calls for on gamers’ virtuosity. This live performance raised the ante with further depth, particularly from soloist and conductor, and alert enjoying from the orchestra. Everyone appeared tuned in on the identical frequency in Friday’s live performance in Davies Symphony Hall, the second efficiency in three of this program.
Abduraimov, who made his San Francisco Symphony debut in 2018 enjoying Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.3, not solely proved he has the chops to deal with the freakish technical calls for of the composer’s Second Piano Concerto, however he additionally formed them into rather more than an athletic exercise. He caressed the sparer, softer sections with heat and humility, which made the explosions of crashing notes (brilliantly articulated) all of the extra impactful.
The concerto itself has a backstory. It was composed in 1913, when Prokofiev was in his twenties, and the unique rating was misplaced in a fireplace through the revolution of 1917. The composer rewrote it from reminiscence in 1923 for a re-debut. Reviewers of the primary efficiency weren’t type, repelled by the cacophonous dissonances and torrents of notes. The second debut, in Paris and performed by Serge Koussevitsky, fared not significantly better.
Abduraimov, now in his thirties, embraced the clangor however discovered a manner by way of the crowds of notes and showoff virtuosic passages to speak a deeper sense of goal. The lengthy cadenza towards the tip of the primary motion, when the pianist takes over the present for a number of minutes, grew organically from quiet ruminations on tunes and gestures we had simply heard to a crashing and prolonged climax that felt completely justified.
The second motion’s perpetual-motion flurry, which may shortly grow to be tiresome, had a lot life to it that it really felt prefer it was too brief. The fierce third motion Intermezzo was relentlessly stressed, as if anxious to get to the larger, broader, boisterous finale. When Abduraimov arrived there, he relished the contrasts between the extra lyrical segments, harking back to elements of the primary motion, and the buildups to towering climaxes.
Valčuha, who debuted at Davies Hall in 2013, was in keeping with the soloist, guiding the orchestra with precision into treacherous tutti with the piano whereas discovering the identical shadings because the soloist did. After one other brilliantly formed cadenza, the rousing, clattering end introduced the rapt viewers to its toes.
When the applause refused to subside after 4 curtain calls, Abduraimov returned to the piano to play a favourite encore of his – ‘La Campanella’ from Liszt’s Paganini Études. He performed the opening octaves with consummate delicacy with out dropping any of Liszt’s bravado, a tour-de-force of a distinct fashion from the Prokofiev. If something, it was much more spectacular.
Rachmaninoff’s final accomplished new work, the Symphonic Dances, was his first in almost a decade. It had completely different features to relish, notably Valčuha’s sleek and expressive conducting. The composer was impressed to put in writing it in 1940 after working with Michel Fokine, the principal choreographer of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, on the dance grasp’s ballet, Paganini (set to Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini). Fokine died earlier than he may choreograph this new dance music, however the piece has a swagger and depth that’s unmistakably Rachmaninoff at his rhythmic and sonic peak.
Valčuha’s exact and expansive podium presence captured all that, and the musicians appeared delighted to be alongside on the journey. The opening march gave off a sinister aura and, when the coda turned the nook right into a theme stuffed with harp and glockenspiel tinkling, it appeared as if all was proper with the world.
The second motion’s waltz glided easily, and brimmed with dusky orchestral colour, particularly from woodwinds and brass, and it was simple to think about dancers’ elegant, expressive gestures within the finale. When the brass sneak in references to the ‘Dies Irae’ within the closing measures, it didn’t really feel like the same old warning of impending doom however a declaration of persistence and heat.
The live performance’s opener, The Spark Catchers by the English composer Hannah Kendall, received a crisp and detailed studying, even when it was overmatched by what adopted.
Harvey Steiman