April 18 & 20, 2024
Atlanta Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center
Atlanta, Georgia – USA
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Nathalie Stutzmann, conductor; Maria João Pires, piano.
Felix MENDELSSOHN: Overture, The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave)
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op 58
Robert SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120
Mark Gresham | 20 APR 2024
Portuguese classical pianist Maria João Pires has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as an interpreter of 18th and 19th-century repertoire.
A child prodigy, Pires publicly performed piano concertos by Mozart at age seven and received Portugal’s top prize for young musicians two years later. She later came to study at Lisbon Conservatory with Campos Coelho and then continued her studies in Germany with Rosl Schmid and Swiss pianist Karl Engel. Winning the Beethoven Bicentennial Competition in Brussels in 1970 launched her international performing and recording career.
Again, to emphasize, a long and distinguished one: Pires, born in 1944, becomes an octogenarian in late July of this year.
In an interview with Geoffrey Norris of the London Evening Standard before her 2010 performance at the BBC Proms, Pires had this to say:
Pires was non-committal about retirement at the time, although she had cut back her schedule after 60 years of performing. However, this did not in any way stop her.
Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. (credit: Rand Lines)
In 2013 Pires recorded two of Beethoven’s piano concertos: the Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37, and Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 with conductor Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Berwaldhalle, Stockholm, released on the Onyx label in 2014 (ONYX 4125).
The latter, No. 4, was what we heard from Pires and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on Thursday evening, led by ASO music director Nathalie Stutzmann, and what we got was a sympathetic, autumnal interpretation, if somewhat of a “grey-brown” one, though Pires’ performance demonstrated considerable manual dexterity and fluid technique at age 79.
Especially in light of what Pires said about her playing in that interview 14 years ago, a less extroverted approach, with toned-down colors and more measured expressive range, is the mature artist’s prerogative. And that’s okay, although it’s not the kind of colorful vitality we would expect from, say, a similarly-aged Garrick Ohlsson (age 76, scheduled to perform with the ASO the second week of May) or the late Claudio Arrau at a comparable stage of life. Nevertheless, it was a warm and assured performance by the esteemed pianist.
In this concert of core repertoire from the mainline Germanic canon, the Felix Mendelssohn’s overture The Hebrides preceded the Beethoven concerto. After intermission came Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120.
Schumann’s orchestral works are as dense as a Claxton fruitcake — a fair analogy, I think, given their rich thematic material, intricate textures, and thick orchestration that characterize them. But they also possess moments of lyrical beauty and emotional depth, reflecting the composer’s Romantic sensibilities and profound musical expression. The orchestral density, however, can easily get the upper hand.
That is especially true of his Symphony No. 4, at least the version we hear today, as the piece underwent significant revisions before its final publication. Initially completed in 1841, Schumann made substantial changes to the symphony in 1851, and that is the version that eventually reached the public.
Clara Schumann, Robert’s widow, made claims regarding the symphony’s creation, asserting that it was only fully orchestrated in 1851 despite being initially sketched in 1841. However, historical evidence contradicts this assertion. Despite Clara’s objections, Johannes Brahms, a supporter of the earlier version of the symphony, published it in 1891.
Schumann’s biographer, Peter Ostwald, noted differences between the two versions, describing the earlier one as “lighter and more transparent in texture.” Clara Schumann, however, considered the later version superior. Indeed, there were some improvements in the revised version, but Schumann’s heavier-handed orchestration in the revised version made the score denser, though playable.
The symphony exhibits significant thematic integration across its four movements, performed without pause. Motifs from the first movement reappear in subsequent movements, creating a cohesive structure.
Despite what seemed a remarkable outing for Stutzmann last week (at least from my perspective in the audience), she returned to a more familiar form in this concert. As a result, we got an above-par Schumann with a “crowd-pleasing” (to put it nicely) loud ending to the fourth movement, but without revealing the inner intricacies (that’s hard enough to do with Schumann anyway), or a feeling for the progress of the overall architecture (which really should be the work’s most vital point).
Pre-concert chamber music
As part of the ASO’s “German Romantics Festival,” a pre-concert chamber music program was held in advance of the 8 p.m. concert. Five members of the orchestra were to perform Johannes Brahms’ String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111 onstage at 6:45 p.m.
However, one of the musicians had unfortunately become ill, so with only one hour’s notice, concertmaster David Coucheron and pianist sister Julie Coucheron prepared a program (though not all-German repertoire) to substitute: Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in D major (Op. 12, No. 1) and Edvard Grieg’s Violin Sonata No. 2 in G major, Op. 13. Both pieces were nicely done.
Violinist David Coucheron and pianist Julie Coucheron performed a 6:45 p.m. pre-concert program of Beethoven and Grieg in advance of the 8 p.m. orchestral concert. (credit: Rand Lines)
Julie remarked afterward that the Beethoven Sonata was the first work they had ever performed together as children, so you know they Had that one down. And who better to play Grieg than a pair of Norwegian siblings?
As of that night, the Brahms Quintet was anticipated for performance in the pre-concert chamber program before Saturday night’s ASO concert. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- [1] Geoffrey Norris. “Maria João Pires: I never said I would retire” London Evening Standard, July 21, 2010.
- Atlanta Symphony Orchestra: aso.org
- Nathalie Stutzmann: nathaliestutzmann.com
- Maria João Pires: mariajoaopires.com
- David & Julie Coucheron: davidandjuliecoucheron.com
Read more by Mark Gresham.
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