Above: pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii, photographed by Georgia Bertazzi
~ Author: Oberon
Thursday September 20th, 2018 - Pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii joining the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for their season-opening concert at Carnegie Hall.
Arvo Pärt's Frates opened the evening. Undoubtedly the composer's best-known work, it was used by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon for his 2003 ballet LITURGY, created on New York City Ballet's Wendy Whelan and Jock Soto. In that context, I've heard the music performed live many times; but tonight was my first experience of hearing it in a concert setting.
From its ethereal start, Fratres develops slowly as its theme is repeated in varying registers and instrumentations, punctuated by percussion accents. In this evening's concert, the 2007 arrangement was performed, which includes winds. String and wind ensembles alternate 'verses' as the bass and deep celli sustain a low, grounding note of spiritual resonance. The depth of tone summoned up by the Orpheus players gave Fratres a feel of Russian bassos engaged in ritual chant.
Mr. Tsujii then joined the orchestra for a performance of Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 in F-Minor, Op. 21, in an arrangement by Shuying Li. The pianist, who is blind, was escorted to the piano where he sat, rocking gently as he awaited his entrance; he seemed to take the measure of the keyboard before launching his impressive and marvel-filled performance.
Nobu (as he is known) gives this music a gorgeous sense of flow. In his first solo passage, his sensitivity and attention to detail were in abundant evidence. He summons up a cushiony sound, and has a keen sense of the mixture of passion and reserve by which the opening Maestoso profits. Blending with the bassoon and then with the horn, Nobu regaled us with sumptuous tone and shining dexterity.
In the central Larghetto, the pianist imbued the music with a sense of quiet rapture, building to a state of transportive romance. Over tremolo strings, a feeling of mystery envelops us; silence falls before a delicate cadenza is introduced. The main melody recurs, leading to a quiet end. Throughout this movement, an atmosphere of hushed anticipation in the hall was a tribute to Nobu's artistry.
The closing Allegro vivace is styled as a Polish folk dance. Nobu took barely a moment to spring from the Larghetto into this virtuoso revelry, spinning out florid passages with flair. His buoyant, dazzling playing danced on to the end, when the house erupted in massive applause and shouts of enthusiasm. A full standing ovation greeted Nobu's bows, and he favored us with a jazzy encore: a concert étude by the Russian composer Nikolai Kapustin. A second encore seemed in the offing, but the musicians walked offstage, leaving the crowd wanting more. I'll certainly be seeking out Nobu in future; there's so much music I want to hear him play.
Following the interval, Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No. 1 in D-Major, Op. 11, was offered in an arrangement for chamber orchestra by Christopher Theofanidis. The Playbill refers to the piece now as a "Chamber Symphony", which is all well and good, though as my companion Ben Weaver commented, it's almost unrecognizable to admirers of the original quartet setting.
Mr. Theofanidis's arrangement - a veritable font of melody - is well-crafted and makes for a pleasing half-hour of listening, being lovingly played by the Orpheus musicians. Unfortunately, maintaining our focus was nearly impossible thanks to a series of distractions. A couple seated nearby spent several minutes intently watching something on their cellphone. Then suddenly the phone began playing Fratres; it took several seconds for the woman to shut it down, whereupon she dropped the phone with a thud. Meanwhile, during the Andante cantabile, a baby fussed loudly. Then the coup de grace: another cellphone played a blithe tune. Amid such shenanigans, concentration on the music we'd come to hear becomes an unnecessary chore.
UPDATE: I've just been watching
TOUCHING THE SOUND, an extremely moving documentary about Nobuyuki Tsujii's childhood, the discovery of his remarkable gift, his winning of the Cliburn in 2009, and his outreach to school children whose lives were shattered by the 2011 tsunami in Japan. Watch a trailer for the film
here.
A quote from Nobuyuki: "I can see everything...with my heart."
~ Oberon