Concert Review: Break Glass for Beethoven

Jonathan Biss steps in at Carnegie Hall.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

A higher state of Biss: Jonathan Biss and friend.
Photo by David Bazemann.

The piano sonata was still a relatively new form when Beethoven published his first set in 1795. In the next twenty-seven years, the composer would revolutionalize the way composers wrote for the instrument, placing ever greater technical demands not just on the stamina of performers and audiences but on the instruments that were used to play them. Today's piano, the modern concert Steinway favored at Carnegie Hall is an engine of steel, not the wooden box that Beethoven and Liszt were forced to contend with and sometimes break with the ferocity of their attack.

Concert Review: And Then Things Got Difficult

Bezhod Abduraimov makes his main stage Carnegie Hall debut.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The pianist Bezhod Abdumairov and friend.
Photo courtesy Harrison Parrott.

In February of 2015, the young Uzbek pianist Bezhod Abduraimov made his debut at Carnegie Halls Weill Recital Hall. On Thursday night, Mr. Abduraimov made his second visit o the Hall that Music  Built. This concert marked his debut on the big stage of Stern Auditorium, with a fierce and intense program of works by German, Austrian and Russian composers.

Concert Review: The Substitute Virtuoso

Louis Lortie in recital at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul Pelkonen

The pianist Louis Lortie. Photo by Elias.

A few weeks ago, Carnegie Hall subscribers were informed that pianist Maurizio Pollini had cancelled his planned New York recitals for this season for "health reasons." This the second year in which the Italian virtuoso had declined to appear on this side of the Atlantic. On Sunday afternoon, those subscribers had the pleasure of hearing Louis Lortie, who offered a program of Beethoven and Chopin in the second of these scheduled concerts.


This Canadian pianist has built a reputation in recent years for clean, imaginative playing. He began the concert with two of the most popular Beethoven Sonatas, the Waldstein and Les Adieux. The first movement of the Waldstein was played with a pell-mell spirit that slowed with the application of rubato in the second theme. Mr. Lortie accelerated again, playing Beethoven's thematic building blocks with a sure touch. The glissando notes came as fast as it was possible to play them without slurring.

In his methodical way, Mr. Lortie brought equal weight to the Waldstein's short second movement, providing melodic expression and making this Adagio more than just a bridge between big ideas. The quick turn into the final Rondo happened almost invisibly, as Mr. Lortie siezed hold of the big, singing theme, playing the repettions of it with rhythmic drive and a warm sense of melody.