Concert Review: The Piano and the Pedagogue

Murray Perahia returns in recital at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The pianist Murray Perahia returned to Carnegie Hall on Wednesday night.
Photo © Sony Classical

Born in the Bronx, pianist Murray Perahia occupies a special place in the heart of New York audiences. The artist returned to Carnegie Hall on Wednesday night, offering a scholarly, conservative program that could have doubled as a history of the development of the keyboard in 18th and 19th century Europe. A regular at Lincoln Center, this was Mr. Perahia's first concert under Carnegie's aegis since 2013, when Hurricane Sandy forced his recital to be moved to that venue's Avery Fisher Hall.

Concert Review: Time-Scape

The Boston Symphony Orchestra returns to Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pekonen

Bernard Haitink.
Photo by Chris Christodoulu © 2013 London Symphony Orchestra.

The repertory of any major symphony orchestra spans centuries, with composers influencing each other's work over a vast ocean of time.  On Tuesday night, the Boston Symphony Orchestra offered a program that built bridges over that ocean, from the 19th century to the baroque era and from the England of the 17th century up to our own era. This was the first of two concerts this week under the baton of Bernard Haitink. The 85-year-old Dutch conductor is now in his sixth decade of conducting, and second decade of his long association with the BSO.

Concert Review: Have Piano, Will Travel

Murray Perahia in recital at Car...er...Avery Fisher Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Hometown hero: the pianist Murray Perahia. Photo provided by Sony Classical.

A recital in New York by Murray Perahia is always a major event. The pianist's preference for traditional repertory makes him a favorite among more conservative music lovers, and his Bronx birth makes him a hometown hero. In a city clobbered by Hurricane Sandy, that kind of heroism is what was needed as patrons gathered for a concert that was supposed to happen three nights before.

You see, this Sunday night recital was originally scheduled for Friday night at Carnegie Hall. This change was necessitated by the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which left enormous, damaged construction crane dangling over W. 57th St. across the street from that historic venue, shutting down the venue, its attendant subway stops and all the local businesses for a two block radius.

The program selected by Mr. Perahia for this recital may have had therapeutic qualities for his traumatized audience. It opened with the solemn, sylvan dances of Haydn's D Major Sonata, which went through a series of stormy passages before emerging in an optimistic conclusion. Mr. Perahia displayed a lightness of touch, making a coherent argument that this composer's superb, underrated piano music needs to be heard more frequently.

Concert Review: The Keeper of the Keys

Murray Perahia in recital at Lincoln Center
by Paul Pelkonen

Piano man: Murray Perahia. Photo © 2010 courtesy Sony Classical.

In the course of a long concert season, some recitals and concerts are akin to a religious ceremony. Such a one was Sunday's afternoon concert at Avery Fisher Hall, featuring Bronx-born pianist Murray Perahia. The lights of this great hall were down very low, creating an atmosphere of religious contemplation. A celestial beam lit the stage, as New York's own high priest of solo piano music strode to his instrument.

As a hometown hero with impeccable taste and technique, Mr. Perahia is beloved by New York concert-goers. Yet he has earned their frustration as well, with a series of cancellations and health problems stemming from a 1995 operation to remove a bone spur from his right hand. This forced him to retire from performance for three years. Those physical problems, coupled with the artist's ongoing residency in Berlin have conspired to make a recital by this artist a special event.

The repertory for this recital was conservative, with the three "B's" (J. S. Bach, Beethoven, Brahms) in the first half and Chopin and Schubert in the second. Mr. Perahia began with No. 5 of Bach's French Suites, his hands performing a complex terpsichore on the keys through the seven dance movements. The closing Loure and Gigue were lyric and uplifting, a strong argument for performing this music on the modern instrument.


Beethoven wrote his piano sonatas for the wood-framed fortepiano of his day, destroying a few in the process. The 27th Sonata in E minor is one of his most unconventional. Consisting of just two movements, its tense opening and cheerful Rondo are testaments to the composer's volatile personality. Mr. Perahia's playing was conservative, focusing on the deep humanism of the writing and the composer's gift of phrase.

The first half of the program ended with Brahms' late Klavierstücke--four piano miniatures from the composer's late period. Mr. Perahia announced Brahms' solemn presence through the cascade of heavy chords that open the first Intermezzo. From there he turned to warm, glowing melodies, leading a gorgeous waltz in the middle section of the second piece.

Mr. Perahia's recent releases have included a disc of Brahms works, and his affinity for the composer's complex scheme and variations showed in the third Intermezzo, a kind of scherzo based on just four notes. Finally it was time for the vast, cinematic sweep of the Rhapsody in E Flat Major, which ends the set with a noble theme borrowed six years later by Brahms' friend Jean Sibelius for his tone poem Finlandia.

The second half opened with Schubert's Sonata No. 19 in A, a work of sunny optimism with none of the obsession with death that plagued this young composer in his later years. Mr. Perahia made the sunlight of Schubert's Vienna shine into the dark cavern of Avery Fisher Hall, playing the three movements with lyric grace. The Andante flowed smoothly from his fingers, and the final movement had a fierce, determined joy.

That ferocity and determination extended to the four Chopin works chosen by Mr. Perahia to end the concert. This ws not the simpering, soft Chopin of the salon, but music of a brusque, business-like determination. The C# minor Polonaise had a heroic swagger, its dance rhythms etched by the soloist in bold strokes. The murderously difficult Prelude No. 8 in F# minor followed. A tiny two-minute beast among the composer's 24, its nickname is "Desparation." Mr. Perahia kept a cool head and executed the tricky right-hand figures with his customary skill.

The Mazurka No. 4 is just three minutes in length. Mr. Perahia showed that this brief work is packed with musical ideas and expressive possibilities. The little tetralogy ended with the muscular Scherzo No. 4, the last of the set. Mr. Perahia returned to Chopin's heroic mode here. The brash opening theme gave way to a slow, sad minor. The work ended with a mighty struggle to return to the major key. Mr. Perahia injected a note of triumph and achievement into the resonant final chords.