THE
CONCERTS: Thibaudet On Location Residency, cont'd
Grieg's
Concerto, plain and simple
The
billing for the last big event of the residency was quite straightforward. Perhaps
because there is only one, so popular that it is recognizable to almost Everyman,
GRIEG'S CONCERTO, plain and simple, served the bill. The centerpiece of concerts
held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion over a weekend in which one month flowed
into the next (November 31, December 1 & 2), it played between an unfamiliar
two-movement piece from George Enescu's Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C major
and Beethoven's less familiar freedom-or-death overture (Leonore 2&3
being the better known) - Egmont: Overture and Incidental Music. All
works were performed under the masterly direction of Lawrence Foster.
Edvard Grieg, like Gershwin, was a master of the "miniature" musical
form - songs and short piano pieces. And just as the Concerto in F
is Gershwin's only piano concerto, Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor
is the Norwegian composer's only one. But it has held its own, near the top
of all-time favorites, ever since it was composed in 1868. The concerto's portentous
opening belies the sweet, romantic lyricism that emerges not many bars after
the first virtuosic sweep of the keyboard and - it is soon realized - underlies
the entire work. And this tunefulness - or "pretty music," to borrow
George Bernard Shaw's epithet for Grieg's works, is the likely reason for both
its endearment to the public and its belittlement by critics.
But obviously not by Jean-Yves Thibaudet. This unabashed Romantic is no snob!
He embraces Grieg (and Liszt and Chopin and Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky and
yes, Addinsel of Warsaw Concerto fame) as he does Ravel and Debussy (and Beethoven
and Mendelssohn and Messiaen and Gershwin), and plays their music on center
stage with genuine fondness, thus rescuing them from the condescension of critics.
As he did when he played Grieg's Concerto during this residency - imparting
power to the big chords and impeccable delicacy to the filigreed trills, with
a fervor to match his elegant virtuosity. His brilliant technique never fails
to reinvigorate and legitimize familiar concert pieces, and when the chemistry
between him and the conductor is right such as between him and Lawrence Foster,
Grieg's "too familiar" Concerto can sound as if you were hearing it
for the very first time as it did during this residency - an instant dissociation
of contempt from familiarity. And much appreciated by an audience who were clearly
moved by the performance.
The celebrated concert pianist is also a chamber musician:
| During the residency, Jean-Yves showed another facet of his artistic personality that is seldom seen in the US:* chamber musician par excellence, as at home in an intimate concert setting as on the big stage, willing and eager to share the limelight with lesser known fellow musicians. |
Playing the piano part at a sold-out concert of
chamber music with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra held at
the Skirball Cultural Center's Ahmanson Hall on November 26, he performed Ravel's
Sonata for Violin and Piano with principal concertmaster Martin Chalifour
and Poulenc's Sextet for Piano and Winds with members of the orchestra's
wind ensemble. The program also included Three Madrigals for Violin and Viola
and Debussy's String Quartet.
Chamber music is a regular component of Jean-Yves' performance calendar. He
has performed often in Europe with the ROSSETTI
QUARTET with whom he will appear for the first time in US performances -
at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC in the spring of 2002 and at Carnegie
Hall in 2003.
BUY HIS GRIEG PIANO CONCERTO CD
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BIOGRAPHY RED SOCKS
JOIE DE VIVRE MASTER
TEACHER VICTOIRE D'HONNEUR
RECORDING ARTIST DISCOGRAPHY CALENDAR
JYT & OPERA
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