Garrick Ohlsson's all-Liszt recital

[Ricordanza]

It was an introduction more fitting for a rock star. Miles Cohen, the mild-mannered and engaging Artistic Administrator of the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, came on the stage on Thursday evening, as he always does before each of the Society’s concerts, to make some announcements about future events, remind the audience to turn off their cell phones, and introduce the evening’s performer. “In a few moments,” he announced, “Garrick Ohlsson will take center stage and set this place on fire.”

Garrick Ohlsson is not the front man for a heavy metal band, but rather, a veteran and respected pianist on the concert scene. But the introduction was not altogether inappropriate. Ohlsson’s recital program was all Liszt, and there’s no doubt that Franz Liszt was the first “rock star” of the music world. The inventor of the solo piano recital, the innovator who took piano technique to unimaginable (for the time) new horizons, and a performer with the personal magnetism to captivate his audiences (especially those of the female persuasion), Liszt was a unique force and presence in his time. In our time, his music continues to ignite fires.

Despite his popular appeal, Liszt’s music was not always appreciated, in his time and in ours. Just consider what Clara Schumann had to say about the centerpiece of Ohlsson’s recital, the B Minor Sonata: “It is a blind noise….It really is too awful.” Several years after its 1857 premiere, the noted critic Eduard Hanslick raged, “Whoever has heard that, and finds it beautiful, is beyond help.”

Even Liszt’s champions today admit that much of his music is bombastic, or dripping with excessive sentimentality, or packed with acrobatic tricks, and sometimes all three. But the gems in his output are works of genius and are admired by performing pianists and audiences alike. It is no wonder that the B Minor Sonata appears so often on piano recital programs, including two PCMS programs this season. Ohlsson’s performance was both passionate and cerebral, wholly befitting this central work of the Romantic era.

Five other outstanding examples of Liszt’s output completed this program. Ohlsson began the evening with Liszt’s transcription of Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in G Minor, BMV 542. This was a first hearing for me. I’m sure that I would enjoy the original, played on the organ, but Liszt’s transformation produces an especially compelling piano work.

Following the Sonata in B Minor and intermission, Ohlsson offered two examples of Liszt’s ability to convey images through sound, Les jeux d’eaux a la Villa d’Este, and Feux Follets, the fifth of the Transcendental Etudes.

The next piece, Les Funerailles, is a work of emotion and grandeur, a tone poem for piano. The power and depth of Ohlsson’s playing made this another highlight of the evening.

Finally, just in case anyone doubted Ohlsson’s standing as a super-virtuoso, he brought the house down with one of the great showpieces of all time, the Mephisto Waltz No. 1.

Dialing back the fire and emotion, the sole encore was a gentle, wistful unnamed piece by Liszt, dating from 1865.

[Steinway]

Henry..

Another outstanding review from you. We need to have Dobrin pack his bags and have you replace him!

I had to leave after the intermission but heard a uniquely individual performance of the Liszt sonata, unlike
any I've heard. I found it fascinating, from every aspect and was very impressed with Ohlsson's take on this masterpiece.

The Bach transcription, a work extremely difficult to conquer, was played with remarkable ease and it alone was worth the price of admission. He is an amazing artist.

Thanks again for your analysis and your observations.

See you at the Schiff recital in May.

[Lance]

Henry, an outstanding review! It is obvious that you listen with a keen ear. I had an opportunity a few years ago to prepare Ohlssohn's impressive Bösendorfer "Imperial" grand piano for concerts. Not only is Ohlsson a superb pianist but a fine gentleman.

[Ricordanza]

Henry, an outstanding review! It is obvious that you listen with a keen ear. I had an opportunity a few years ago to prepare Ohlssohn's impressive Bösendorfer "Imperial" grand piano for concerts. Not only is Ohlsson a superb pianist but a fine gentleman.

Thanks, Lance and Harris, for your comments.

No Bosendorfer this time; he played a Steinway.