Finessing A Finger-Breaker

Most of the major orchestral venues are not even open yet, but already the Piano Concerto No. 3 of Sergei Rachmaninoff has been performed two times this season at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater of the Juilliard School. This statistical anomaly was made possible because the piece was presented twice on the same Sunday afternoon program featuring the school’s orchestra in conjunction with the International Rachmaninoff Society. The society’s president, Vladimir Ashkenazy, was on the podium.The concert was the capstone of a weekend of all things Rachmaninoff, which included members from around the world visiting the gravesite at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, several chamber events, a vocal recital, and various symposia. Like Rachmaninoff, Mr. Ashkenazy is that rare bird, a fine pianist who has transformed into a respected conductor.The concerto was given its world premiere just a few blocks away on Central Park West and 62nd Street in 1909, at what was then called the New Theatre. Walter Damrosch led the New York Symphony Society with the composer as soloist. A year later, Rachmaninoff returned for, as he tells us, a much more satisfying performance under Gustav Mahler at Carnegie Hall. The conceit of the public program this Sunday was that the first half would be an open rehearsal with student soloist Hong Xu and then after intermission there would be a full performance.Perhaps my expectations were a little unrealistic, but I had hoped for an educative experience, an opportunity to glimpse into the arcane world of a maestro in preparatory communication with his players. Instead, those players launched immediately into a complete performance of the entire concerto, with Mr. Ashkenazy’s white polo shirt the only sign that this was a practice run. After this effort, the conductor, looking at his watch, repeated one short section — the coda of the finale — and then asked Mr. Xu if he needed to go over any of the material. Mr. Xu rather refreshingly said no, and therefore the remaining repetitions were not particularly revelatory.The performances themselves were at the high level that one has come to expect at this institution, but, at the end of the day, were solid only as student interpretations. The Juilliard aggregate string sound was quite impressive, a phenomenon that always seems incredible considering how short a time they have worked together as a unit (particularly when the concert is in September). Mr. Ashkenazy seemed to be holding back a bit in terms of tempo and dynamic contrast, as if he were more concerned about making a mistake than about presenting the composer’s quicksilver moods with abandon. The third concerto is a rather meandering, sprawling piece, a journey through a mind familiar with a darker side, but in this rendition all was rather too tranquil, Mr. Ashkenazy’s palette daubed with only pastels.Mr. Xu acquitted himself with dignity. At his recent Weill recital, he was prone to distracting gestures and exaggerated facial expressions, but here he held himself much more in check. The Piano Concerto No. 3 is such a notorious finger-breaker that even such a master digitizer as Vladimir Horowitz suggested revisions to the composer to make it a little more playable. Mr. Xu handled all of its tricky passages with courage and aplomb, although his laudable degree of accuracy at last week’s recital ebbed and flowed at this concert. Mr. Xu has climbed a mountain of technical prowess but now needs to concentrate on his interpretive skills. He plays so straightforwardly that he tends to ignore the more emotional side which, in a piece such as this one, is pretty much the entire ball of wax. Now that he can play the notes, let’s hope that the music will soon follow.Joseph Polisi, president of Juilliard, began the proceedings with a rather good joke at the expense of one of his neighbors. Apologizing in advance in case some ambient orchestral sound fed through the microphones worn by Messrs. Ashkenazy and Xu, he said that the acoustics this day would be “enhanced, as they say across the street at City Opera.”

Finessing A Finger-Breaker

Finessing A Finger-Breaker

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