HALLE
ORCHESTRA Bridgewater Hall
SUNWOOK KIM
has become like an old friend for the Hallé since he won the Leeds
International Piano Competition in 2006.
They played
with him then (and Sir Mark Elder conducted), and were back together to open
the Hallé’s 2015-16 season – this time with Rachmaninov’s third piano concerto.
He is not
just a great pianist but a real musician. He plays his own centre-stage part brilliantly,
but he also knows the entire score, listens to the orchestra and is happy to
let others have the limelight.
His own
contributions are lyrical, varied and responsive to the flow of the music. This
was apparent within a few minutes of the opening of the concerto, and by its
end we had heard some skilfully caught moments of mystery and imagination.
Sir Mark
obtained an atmospheric sound from the orchestra at the start of the slow
movement (the strings’ tone in particular), and Sunwook Kim and they together
brought it to a genuine Rachmaninov peak of emotional ardour. The third
featured lovely playing from the horns while the soloist had saved his best
fireworks for the end: tension built without wandering into self-indulgence,
resulting in the maximum impact for the last melodic reprise and final sprint.
It was, in
fact, a Russian programme (by composers’ birth, even though Rachmaninov
premiered the concerto in New York Moscow River
Sir Mark
told me this week he sees this as one of those Romantic works delighting in
childlike qualities – telling stories
and simple in its effects – and he did not want to exaggerate it.
That comes
in contrast to the standard approach (beloved of Russian and most other
orchestras, it must be said) of going for walls of sound in the seascapes of
the outer sections, and it’s hard to lose the wish for a big impact.
On the
other hand the inner movements (about a prince who disguises himself and the
gorgeous first-love romance of a young prince and princess) were magical, like
the soundtrack to an unseen drama, and the richer sounds benefitted from
revealing clarity in the textures, illuminating the score like an old
manuscript revealed in its true colours, and from virtuosic orchestral solos
including, of course, leader Lyn Fletcher’s solo violin.
****
Robert
Beale
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