Music Review; Pianist Matsuev's debut with Pittsburgh Symphony concludes the Rachmaninoff Festival
by Shuo Zhang
I was once convinced that live performance in classical music can never be as perfect as the recording. As time passing by, I was proved wrong by some soloists in concerts but remained partially skeptical about whether I was really wrong. Last night at Heinz Hall, pianist Denis Matsuev, playing Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto no.3 with conductor Slatkin, delivered such an glittering performance that once again proved I was indeed wrong.
As the last part of the concert series of the Rachmaninoff Festival, the concert last night contained some of Rachmaninoff's best known works--including the beautiful and sorrow song the Vocalise (which is dedicated by Slatkin to the three police officers killed last week), Symphonic Dances, and the wildly popular Piano Concerto No.3.
The two symphonic pieces in the first half shows the orchestra's ability to paint diverse colors on the canvas of music. Comparing to the much softer and soul-touching whispering timbre of the Vocalise, Slatkin interprets the Symphonic Dances by contrasting three kinds of different moods: one soft and light-hearted, one dynamic, delivered at the top volume of the full orchestra, and finally one lyrical, at the same time full of the sentiment heard on the strings played using the entire portion of their bow. Such sentiment is especially strong when the borrowed theme from Rachmaninoff's own Symphony No.3 appears, here in a different harmonic configuration. Meanwhile, the various percussions used in the third movement, including the xylophone, triangle, snare drum, tambourine, cymbals, tubular bells, and the gong.
A Russian virtuoso pianist, Denis Matsuev is well known for his Rachmaninoff and his works in collaboration with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation. The most notable of his Rachmaninoff No.3 last night is that he seems to conquer this massive and extremely technical demanding piece rather effortlessly, while the performance turned out to be perfectly accurate and affectionate.
It also turns out that Matsuev makes effective use of body language in corresponding to the contrast in music, seen in the calm, almost motionless upper body of the opening theme (and many reappearance) in the first movement, and the fierce, dramatic movement of the notorisouly long Cadenza passage, which in this unusual case was set to the Development section in the first movement by Rachmaninoff. In this latter case, seeing the movement of the hands on top of listening to the music is absolutely another level of shock by the dazzling techniques of this piece.
Slatkin, on the other hand, successfully blends the color of the orchestra with the piano with careful design. There are parts where the orchestra overshadowed the piano in volume even when there is much going on to keep the pianist's hands busy, showing the coordinated collaboration between the two （instead of piano dominating all the time).
The program repeat on Saturday and Sunday at 8:00 P.M.
