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EARLY MUSIC REVIEW
Kids, Try This At Home! March 9, 2002
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By Nikki Buechler
Performance practice remains a controversial issue for musicians and music
lovers. Christopher Hogwood, conductor of The Academy of Ancient Music,
has a reputation for pursuing "authenticity." This must have been the governing factor in the decision to have Robert Levin improvise in the AAM's concert on
Saturday March 9th in Stanford's Memorial Auditorium. It was a risk, and
it paid off.
The program was all Mozart, with the exception of a fantasy-improvisation by Robert Levin, on themes provided by the audience. Even
this piece was as close to Mozart was you can get without actually being
Mozart, in terms of style and performance practice. Before he played,
Levin evaluated the offerings of musical motives composed by audience
members. As long as the theme was in the style of Vienna circa 1775 (and
coherent), he agreed to play whatever came out of the box.
The result was remarkable. Levin did something that no one else does, probably because no one else can. He improvised, with astonishing fluency, on these four themes, in the style of Mozart, touching several key areas, eventually coming back to a statement of all four themes at the end. The only blemish on his performance was his rushing of many of the gestures, as if his hands could not keep up with the pace of his brain. It was fascinating to watch someone perform such a splendid feat, one that left only one criticism. If only he had struck every note with precision. Levin clearly has an idea in mind before he starts playing, and he alluded to this when he declared that he would move to more distant key areas than required by the musical offerings. While this meant that he drew upon much material that was, by necessity, formulaic, a voice-exchange between his left and right hand (where the bass takes over the melody) demonstrated his brilliant capabilities. This is even harder to do than what he was doing before, as pianists are used to playing the melody with the right hand. Despite broken hammers in the instrument, he finished the piece avoiding that part of the register. Both Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K 491 and the Concerto Rondo in D Major for Pianoforte and Orchestra, K 382 suffered from an oversized orchestra. The fortepiano is not a loud instrument, it was lost even to the strings at times, and when strings were joined by winds it was almost inaudible. If this was the effect from the eighth row, it seems unlikely that the back of the hall would have fared better. Improvised cadenzas were, of course, impressive in terms of harmonic and stylistic elements, and Levin was clear enough to the orchestra about his intentions that there was no difficulty knowing when to start playing.
In fact, Levin essentially conducted from his bench, even though Christopher Hogwood was, perhaps even superfluously, conducting. It could have been to provide reassurance for the orchestra, especially as there is some potential need for damage limitation if the soloist is improvising cadenzas. This does raise the question of performance practice however, as soloists around this time would have directed many, if not most concertos from their instrument. Even though Hogwood did not explicitly address the question of whether to have a conductor to the audience, the idea of having two people gesturing at the orchestra seemed excessive. The concert was framed by movements of Mozart's Symphony No. 35 in D Major, "Haffner," K. 385. The orchestra played the first three movements, then the pieces with Robert Levin, and then ended with the Finale. It was strange to hear the symphony fragmented, though the orchestra performed with suitable enthusiasm and good articulation. It came across well, though, as the orchestra plays well together and uses bold gestures. Mozart is notoriously difficult to play well and easy to play badly, and the orchestra performed this demanding work with style.
(Nikki Buechler is a PhD student at the music department at Stanford University. She has a Master's degree from St Catherine's College, Oxford, and spent 5 years working as a viola player in chamber groups, orchestras and as an occasional soloist in London, England.) ©2002 Nikki Buechler, all rights reserved |
