6th Singapore International Piano Festival: Piers Lane
6th International Piano Festival
CELEBRATING CHOPIN
Sunday, 4 July 1999
Victoria Concert Hall
BEETHOVEN Sonata in E flat major “Les Adieux” Op.81a
RACHMANINOV Variations on a theme of Chopin Op.22
CHOPIN Variations on ‘La ci darem la mano’ from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Op.2
CHOPIN Nocturne no.7 in C sharp minor Op.27 no.1
CHOPIN Nocturne no.8 in D flat Op.27 no.2
SAINT-SAENS Etude in F major “Toccata” Op.111 no.6
Encores:
STRAUSS trans. SCHULZ-ELVER The Blue Danube
RACHMANINOV Prelude in D major Op.23 no.4
LIADOV Musical Snuffbox
LISZT Liebestraum No.3 in A flat major
Piers Lane piano
Lineup for the 6th International Piano Festival 1999:
July 3 – Dmitri Alexeev
July 4 – Piers Lane
July 5 – Artur Pizarro
July 6 – Nikolai Demidenko
hat is unique about each pianist’s recital is the level of communication between the performer and the audience. Most pianists tell the audience about a work by playing it to them. Lane however, chooses to educate the audience verbally – which is not out of his capacity, being a Professor of Piano at the Royal Academy of Music, and he offered much personal insight and some humorous anecdotes behind what inspired the composers. And seriously, his introductions did enhance my appreciation of his performance.
Beethoven’s Sonata in E-flat major, Op.81a is nicknamed “Les Adieux” (“The Farewell”) because it was written when the composer’s patron and student, the Archduke Rudolph, had to leave Vienna on official duty. Though the patriotic Beethoven disapproved of this French nickname (preferring the German “Lebewohl”), the piece is nonetheless full of the sadness and longing of sending off a close friend. Lane plays the opening three notes with such pathos that a farewell drama comes immediately to mind. Beethoven was not one to hide his emotions, and his yearning for a departed friend, and joyous celebration at his return, were all so realistically portrayed by Lane that, after this performance, this Sonata and the composer have come to life more intimately than ever before.
From Beethoven, we move on to the theme of the Festival proper: ‘Celebrating Chopin’; though, perhaps, once removed. The Russian composer-pianist Sergei Rachmaninov based his second set of Variations on Chopin’s Prelude Op.28 No.20, a simple piece that in its original entirety only takes up thirteen bars. With the first few heavy, ponderous chords, Lane gave an incredibly boundless breadth of sound and depth of sonority – the very qualities that may have initially attracted Rachmaninov to write variations for this piece. As the piece develops, we see more of the composer at his most lyrical and romantic, writing with elaborate virtuosity and characteristically dense fingerwork, even more so than in his famously lyrical Second Piano Concerto Op.18. Tackling the composer’s virtuosity in the most difficult passages, Lane suffered a few glaring memory lapses (he had to stop mid-passage during one), but his graceful phrasing and poetic rendition made a convincing showcase for this phenomenal work, making me wonder why it is not played or recorded more often.
The real Chopin appeared after the intermission, with his Op.2, Variations on the duet “La ci darem la mano” from Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni; and two Nocturnes, Op.27 Nos.1 and 2. As in the Rachmaninov variations, Lane regaled the audience with elegant showmanship, stretching his virtuosic prowess especially in the finale section which was filled with treacherous pyrotechnics. However, Lane’s forte was really his sensitive reading, most evident in the Nocturnes where he concentrated on delicate phrasing and a dream-like atmosphere. In fact the only unsatisfactory point about the Nocturnes from my point of view was some un-judicious pedalling, causing the left-hand accompaniment to be muddled in exposed sections.
The last piece on the programme was Saint-Saëns’ Etude in F major Op.111 No.6 “Toccata” – justifiably panned as being empty note-spinning in the programme notes (we have Goh Yew Lin, John Howard and Chang Tou-Liang to thank for imparting their knowledge in the programme booklets this year). Lane again sustained a few occasional lapses and overstretched his technique in this ostentatiously technical piece, but his choice of this boisterous Etude gave the recital a fittingly rousing finale.
Lane enthusiastically offered an encore, Schulz-Elvër’s transcription of Johann Strauss’ famous Blue Danube Waltz. Starting with the gentle shimmering waves of the Danube under the warm sun, Lane led us through the various sections of the waltz, embellished heavily with running notes and chromatic fill-ins which he carried off with his usual flair.
He later obliged the appreciative audience with encores three more times, the first being Rachmaninov’s Prelude in D major Op.23 No.4, a ruminating, meditative piece which highlights the composer’s lyrical writing, and made use of fully by Lane’s matching musical style. Liadov’s short but fun piece, Musical Snuffbox, was played suitably deadpan by Lane, the humour transpiring at the end when the clockwork eventually slowed to a stop. The last encore for the night was Liszt’s Liebestraum – technically easier than other Liszt works, this piece nevertheless was given new life by Lane’s hypnotic touch.
Piers Lane’s tender and lyrical interpretation had buffered the taxing programme tonight, which would customarily fall in the realm of a virtuoso’s repertoire, and may be tearjerkers and crowd-pleasers in the hands of a technical daredevil. Lane certainly does not lack flair and brilliance in showmanship, but more importantly he suffuses each piece with painstaking warmth and poetry, dazzling not with technique alone but with his sense of drama and his understanding of individual composers and pieces. And, of course, few other pianists could offer an equally educational recital, one that would not only provide enjoyment and entertainment for the audience, but give us an insight into the composers as human beings, not just foreign names attached to musical works.
