By Márcio Bezerra
The Kravis Center’s exceptional Classical Concert Series featured the Rotterdam Philharmonic on March 4.
Playing to a packed house, the regional orchestra gave a satisfying concert, displaying fine musicianship and a cohesive ensemble.
Under the direction of its chief conductor, Lahav Shani, the group started the program with Swansong by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. One of the most performed living composers of our day, Pärt’s music is disarmingly simple, almost confounding in its clear harmonies and steady rhythms.
Swansong from 2014 is no exception. Building on a simple English horn melody, the orchestra gradually joins in to a climax that, nevertheless, seems to lead the listener to nowhere. It was beautifully played by the Rotterdam Philharmonic, though the audience would have benefited from hearing a more complex by a less famous (Dutch, anyone?) living composer.
The second part of the program was dedicated to selections from Sergey Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. One of the great ballet composers of all time, the popular score feels less sophisticated than Stravinsky’s earlier masterworks. Still, it is an engaging score and it was performed with aplomb by the ensemble. The woodwinds sounded particularly brilliant as well as the first viola and cello, who played beautiful solos.
However, the real showpiece of the evening featured guest pianist Daniil Trifonov. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 ( in E-flat Major, K. 271) is a rarity since it was not written as a showcase of Wolfgang’s own talent, but was commissioned by Victoire Jenamy, at that time, a rare woman pianist who had a European concert career.
The concerto is exceptional even among his masterworks. Its level of invention starts from the first bars, as it features a rare intervention by the soloist, anticipating Beethoven’s later piano concerti by decades.
In the opening Allegro, the composer’s effortless melodic invention produces one ebullient theme after the other. The second movement’s darker color is operatic in character, and in the closing Rondo, Mozart pulls out all the stops by introducing a surprise gentle minuet (which, with its string staccatos, smartly mirrored some textures of the Pärt’s opening piece) before the brilliant conclusion.
Trifonov’s reading was nothing short of miraculous. For a virtuoso who can tackle the literature’s most daunting works, his approach to Mozart had the hallmarks of a mature, much older artist. With the advantage that he could actually play all the passagework flawlessly.
His total control could be heard from the introductory measures; his playing springing with elasticity, lightness of touch, and the myriad of timbres he extracted from the instrument.
His second movement was delivered as if he were a singer performing in an opera seria, and his attacking of the rondo had a contagious rhythmic drive. But the most memorable moments came when he dialogued in pianissimo with the orchestra in the surprising gentle minuet of the finale.
As an accomplished pianist himself, conductor Shani was a sensitive partner; thanks to him, the orchestra matched Trifonov’s expressivity, featuring some of the best playing of the evening. They truly deserved the standing ovation they received, but unfortunately, the brevity of it prevented the audience from enjoying an encore by the masterful pianist.