Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky’s big guns, Medtner steals the show.

Concert Hall, QPAC, Brisbane
October 25, 2014

In their October Maestro Series concert, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra were joined by Russian conductor Edvard Tchivzhel and Russian pianist Nikolai Demidenko for an aptly named ‘Russian Extravaganza’, featuring works by Rachmaninov, Medtner and Tchaikovsky.

The least familiar of these names, Nikolai Medtner was a prolific composer, particularly for the piano, who never achieved the widespread popularity of his contemporary and close friend Rachmaninov. For this reason, his Piano Concerto No 2 seemed at first glance in danger of being overshadowed by the established, popular favourites that preceded and followed it, namely Rachmaninov’s Third Symphony and Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. Ultimately however, Medtner’s musical rarity, performed brilliantly by Demidenko, ended up being the highlight of an evening of Russian masterpieces, a category into which Medtner’s concerto fitted very comfortably.

Written in the mid-1930s, Rachmaninov’s Symphony No 3 in A Minor was one of his last works. The initial reception of the Third Symphony was somewhat shaky, due in part to the fact that it was written directly after his extremely publicly and critically successful Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini, but also possibly due to the distinct lack of Romantic melancholy that audiences had come to expect of Rachmaninov’s music. Since this reception, the piece has moved to occupy its rightful place in the repertoire, and it is now appreciated for its innovativeness and inventiveness.

In the first movement, Tchivzhel brought out this innovation, highlighting the interplay between the woodwind, brass and percussion that demonstrate the new freedom with which Rachmaninov was writing at the end of his life. The second Adagio movement featured beautiful lyrical passages, with whimsical, meandering solos from various instruments accompanied by the harp. The clarity and precision of the first movement was ever-present from the score, yet the orchestra were more free to draw out the passion in this second, slower movement. The dramatic and energetic third Allegro movement was violent and dark in its development, giving away to a lyrical theme and crashing, tightly delivered finale.

Tchivzhel has been a guest conductor with the QSO every year since 2010, and he works excellently with the group in these rhythmic sections and hurtling finishes. The passion and extravagance of the piece were well tempered by precision and clarity, with Tchivzhel and the QSO brining out the maturity of the composer.

After the interval, Demidenko took to the stage to perform Medtner’s Piano Concerto No 2 in C Minor – for me, the highlight of the concert and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s first performance of the work. The concerto is virtuosic from the first arresting notes of the Toccata movement, reminiscent at times of the works of Scarlatti. Demidenko, a pianist rightfully lauded for his performances of the Russian concerto repertoire (although I am personally also a great fan of his recording of the Chopin Piano Concertos, which he plays with extraordinary sensitivity and super-fine precision), was immediately at home with Medtner. His articulation was perfectly in sync with the orchestra, and he played from the outset with entrancing gentleness.

The substantial piano cadenza in the first movement held the audience’s attention to the extent that I was afraid to turn the page of my notebook out of fear that doing so would make a sound; on the current page, I was running out of space with what had essentially become, since Demidenko started playing, a long list of synonyms for ‘magnificent’ and ‘spectacular’. The best way I can think of to describe Demideko’s playing is that it glitters. He draws from the piano a scintillating brilliance that is not so much blinding as it is captivating and breathtaking; underlying this brilliance is a profound gravitas and emotional understanding that elevates his playing from merely extravagant to masterful.

The central Romanza movement is beautifully tuneful, before the final Divertimento (Rondo), in which Medtner employs a clever contrapuntal entwinement of a number of subsidiary themes, brings the piece to its jubilant close. Following rapturous applause, Demidenko returned to the stage for a short encore: one of Medtner’s 28 Skazki (or Fairy Tales), Op. 20 No 2, “La Campanella”.

The orchestra’s final offering, the famous 1812 Festival Overture of Tchaikovsky, was played excellently, although perhaps, for the first time, was (dare I say) an anticlimax. Even all the church bells and woodwind whistles couldn’t save the piece from a sense that it lacked the sincerity so present in the Medtner that preceded it. Interestingly, Tchaikovsky himself penned the most scathing assessment of the 1812, describing it as “very loud and noisy, but without artistic merit, because I wrote it without warmth and without love”. The QSO played wonderfully, but after the Medtner, one could detect in the composition a lack of heart.

So, despite the presence of Russian heavyweights Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky on the program, Medtner’s piano concerto stole the show. This was both a testament to Demidenko’s extraordinary artistry, and an indication that Medtner as a composer deserves significantly more accolades. I certainly hope to hear a great deal more of his music in future, and I look forward to Tchivzhel and Demidenko’s return in 2015 to perform the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony and Brahms’ Piano Concerto No 2.