Review | Russian pianist Mikhail Pletnev plays subdued Beethoven and colourful Grieg in Hong Kong
Russian pianist Mikhail Pletnev played Beethoven and Grieg in contrasting styles, showing his mastery of restraint and the dramatic
The secret to a good story is, as they say, in the telling.
Legendary Russian pianist Mikhail Pletnev wasted no time telling his tale to a packed audience in Hong Kong on June 17, launching into the Shigeru Kawai grand piano the very second he sat down.
His recital was made up of two clearly opposed halves. The first saw his subdued yet thoughtful expressions of pathos and beauty in two of Beethoven’s pillar sonatas, while a vivid depiction of Nordic nostalgia in a selection of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces came after the intermission.
The multifaceted musician-composer, whose distinguished international career began when he won first prize in the 1978 Tchaikovsky Competition, showed he had some real doozies up his sleeves despite exercising considerable emotional restraint in the first piece, Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8, the “Pathétique”.
Indeed, those expecting more outward expressions of the dramatic, agitated aspects of the music may have felt like they showed up at the wrong wedding.
Expressions of pathos in the Grave introduction were more introspective in his hands, and any showy displays in the ensuing Allegro di molto con brio were equally shunned.