Carnegie Hall, New York, January 25, 2014—All Beethoven program: Coriolan Overture; Symphony No. 2; Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor”, Nobuyuki Tsujii, piano; Orpheus Chamber Orchestra—It may sound cynical to say so, but I have no doubt that at least some members of the sold-out audience at Carnegie Hall waiting to see blind pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii expected a circus act. What they got instead was a great performance of Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto, listed in the program, perhaps in ironic tribute to the soloist, as the “Emporer”. Tsujii is a phenomenon, make no doubt about it, but not because of his disability. His playing was bold, fresh, and rhythmically bracing, but never mechanical. He possesses an exquisite, singing legato at lower dynamic levels, most evident throughout the central Adagio, and an amazingly even and well-controlled trill (and the work has a lot of them). In the first movement’s written-out cadenza, the reappearance of the “music box” second subject was perfectly articulated and absolutely magical. His performance was not only just about note-perfect, but it projected a thoughtful and mature vision of the work.
He could not have had a finer group of collaborators than the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Indeed, I suspect that a standard ensemble-plus-conductor would not have managed an accompaniment so fully supportive and unanimously in time with the soloist. The performance was collaborative in the best sense, with Tsujii and the orchestra palpably listening to each other and responding to the give-and-take between keyboard and ensemble that Beethoven wrote into the piece. The two encores, the slow movement of Mozart’s “Coronation” Concerto (crowning the emperor?) and Chopin’s “Revolutionary” Etude (the coup deposing same?) were in turn gorgeous and thrilling, and the audience understandably went nuts.
If you are going to assemble a concert program devoted to a single composer, it has to be said that Beethoven is still your go-to guy. No other composer left a body of work so wide in range, and so expressively satisfying. The first half of the program consisted of a sharply profiled Coriolan Overture, and a really hearty and fulsome performance of the Second Symphony. Despite the fact that Orpheus plays without a conductor, the group has figured out how to inflect a phrase or tempo without a hint of stiffness. The players relaxed beautifully into the overture’s lyrical second subject, and offered an absolutely seraphic vision of the symphony’s slow movement. In quick movements, their unanimity of ensemble and clarity of texture remain extraordinary by any standard. They also play with a wide dynamic range and create an amazingly full sound for such a small group, particularly in such a big hall. The overall impression is “bigger” than what you may hear from many larger ensembles, and is particularly appropriate in Beethoven. A great concert.
