United Kingdom Bach, Ravel, Schumann. Yulianna Avdeeva (piano) Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. 5.2.2013 (RB)Bach: Overture in the French Style in B minor BMV831
Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit
Schumann: Sonata in F sharp minor Op 11
Yulianna Avdeeva won first prize at the
Chopin competition in 2010 and is the only female pianist to have done
so since Martha Argerich won in 1965. She opted to play three very
contrasting works for this recital, highlighting her formidable
technique, versatility and intellectual rigour.
She opened with the Bach Overture in B
minor, which was published in 1735 at the same time as the Italian
Concerto and is somewhat unfairly overshadowed by that work. It was
originally intended as Bach’s seventh Partita and it is a big work,
clearly written for the two-manual harpsichord. Avdeeva approached the
work with considerable intellectual rigour but at the same time conveyed
the rich emotional resonance which seems to emerge so organically from
this music. In the opening Overture, she showed an excellent
understanding of baroque period conventions. The ornamentation was
exquisitely executed, the contrapuntal lines remained admirably clear
and the tone was perfectly weighted. The opening was regal and stately
while the ensuing fugue had a dance-like quality, the sequences played
with elegance and charm. The dynamic contrasts were particularly
striking, effectively underscoring that the work had been written for
two-manual harpsichord. The Courante had rhythmic inventiveness and was
played in a probing and introspective way. The two Gavottes were light,
elegant and crisply articulated with Avdeeva again bringing out the
dance elements in the music. The wonderful Sarabande was taken at a
stately flowing pace with Avdeeva subtly highlighting the dissonances.
The virtuoso Gigue was floridly ornamented and played with verve while
in the final echo Avdeeva used a range of sonorities and dynamic
contrasts to bring the piece to a highly satisfying conclusion. This was
superlative Bach playing which shows that Avdeeva has clearly made a
very close study of this composer.
The Bach was followed by Ravel’s highly virtuosic Gaspard de la Nuit
which is based on the three nightmarish fantasies of Aloysius Bertrand.
I was struck once again by the clarity of Avdeeva’s playing and by the
extraordinary control in this most technically demanding of scores.
There was an impressive range of imaginative textures and sonorities in Ondine
and some vivid characterisation of the scene. The shimmering right hand
figuration at the opening could have been softer and I slightly missed
the mocking quality at the end of the movement. In Le Gibet
Avdeeva did a marvellous job in sustaining the melody which threads
through the centre of the movement. There was a strong sense of anguish
and despair running through the piece and some vivid tone painting with
the tolling B flats and chords depicting a desolate landscape. Avdeeva
played Scarbo with almost ridiculous ease: the technical problems
seemed incidental and she was more interested in creating extraordinary
musical effects and colours. She played the climaxes with real power
and authority while the whirling pirouettes and malevolence of the
character were brilliantly depicted.
The final piece of the evening was
Schumann’s Sonata in F sharp minor which was published in 1835 and
“dedicated to Clara by Florestan and Eusebius”. The impassioned nature
of the music and sense of romantic ardour showed through in the
introduction while the nervy, restless quality of the ensuing Allegro
was nicely judged. Avdeeva’s playing was very polished and technically
assured but the Allegro could perhaps have had more of the capricious
and fanciful elements that are so intrinsic to Schumann’s music. The
second movement is an aria and Avdeeva showed us in this performance a
really cultivated poetic sensibility. The melody seemed to float in
space and there was some wonderfully caressed phrasing. The opening of
the scherzo was very taut and rhythmically incisive – as it should be –
while in the intermezzo Avdeeva showed a greater sense of freedom and
spontaneity, really responding to Schumann’s mercurial imagination. The
virtuoso demands of the finale did not pose any problem to this pianist
and she managed to create a strong sense of structural cohesion
notwithstanding the changes of mood and tempo. There could perhaps have
been greater sense of flexibility and more responsiveness to the
fluctuating changes of mood. Overall, however, this was a very assured
and impressive piece of playing.
Avdeeva played two encores: a Nocturne
and a Mazurka by Chopin, both of which were played in a highly
cultivated way. Ms Avdeeva is clearly a pianist to be reckoned with and I
hope she will play in London again soon. I have one plea for her – can
we have more recordings of these wonderful performances? (I could only
find one recording by her – of Chopin’s piano music – on the internet.)
Robert Beattie
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