RSNO, 24/10/2015

Dejan Lazic : Overture from Piano Concerto in Istrian Style (Dejan Lazio, piano)
Chopin : Piano Concerto No. 2 (Dejan Lazic, piano)
Mussorgsky : Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel)

Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård

Having the first movement of another piano concerto as a prelude to the main concerto of the evening was a novel idea, but if I understood the composer/interpreter Dejan Lazic correctly, he more or less planned it that way, that this first movement could indeed be separated from the bulk of the work (a 5-movement concerto created last year) and used as the opening number in a concert programme, with one of the major Romantic concerto works to follow.  I can't say I picked up all musical acronyms he indicated were present, much less the passing homages to other composers - save perhaps Rachmaninov, in a kind of 30s Hollywood mode - but the shifting, unstable rhythmic patterns were quite interesting, and in general, I wouldn't mind hearing the rest of the piece some time.  However, as an introduction to Chopin's 2nd Piano Concerto, I have my doubts, and furthermore, Lazic had a little too much fun with his orchestral colours, and forgot the internal balance of the piece.  I could barely hear his piano, although it was perfectly visible that he was playing.

And so to the Chopin.  To be frank, this was probably the most eccentric performance of a major concerto I've heard since Igor Levit's Tchaikovsky 1 in April '14.  Unlike in his own concerto, Lazic was perfectly audible throughout, and his piano tone is sweet and singing.  There's also no question regarding his technical ability, though at times I thought some of the ornamentation was a bit crushed.  That was a part of the general idiosyncrasy, however.  At other times, the movement (particularly the first) slowed almost to the point of immobility.  Yet there were lovely moments, too; the beginning of the second movement was exactly as it should be, the piano drifting ethereally into play like a sylphide floating into a moonlit clearing, evanescent and poetic.  A pity that the more dramatic central section lacked purpose.  That was symptomatic of the concerto as a whole, as if Lazic had spent a lot of time working on certain passages, but then neglected to integrate them into a complete work.  What was impressive was the complicity between Lazic and Søndergård.  It's clear they get on very well, musically speaking, because Søndergård really tailored the orchestra to the precise cut of Lazic's decidedly unorthodox jib, making it quite clear that everything was, indeed, following a well-considered plan, even if I didn't agree with that plan.

That control of the orchestra reappeared after the interval with the Ravel orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.  It was extremely interesting to hear this best-known of orchestral versions so soon after hearing the original.  It would be incorrect to say that Ravel brings Pictures to life - there's plenty of life in the piano original.  However, it might perhaps be appropriate to say that the orchestration brings a degree of spatialisation to the work.  You become aware of atmosphere, of heat and light around the pieces, that the piano does not offer.  The Promenade, at least up until its fourth iteration, is much more precisely that than it is in the original, where from the start the Promenade represents the viewer.  Orchestrated, you're really in a gallery, on an outing, an experience, up until "Bydlo", after which the pictures have completely absorbed your attention so that any separate outside world has gone away.

The pictures themselves acquire an additional dimension, a texture the piano cannot offer, and Ravel is always fascinating to watch in the orchestra, all the more so when given such an outstanding reading as this.  The detail and variety of tone-colour was laid out before us, brush strokes on a rich canvas creating an engrossing whole, absorbing and endlessly fascinating.  Light and shade, humour and melancholy, fear and joy, it was all there, in every part of the orchestra, culminating in the clamouring bells of the Great Gate of Kiev, a magnificent conclusion.  An exhibition well worth the price of admission!

[Next : 29th October]