Great performances End the Tanglewood Season
Bronfman and Frühbeck de Burgos
By: Michael Miller - Aug 30, 2006
Boston Symphony Orchestra Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, conductor; Yefim Bronfman, piano
Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Opus 58; Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Opus 92
The Tanglewood series of Beethoven concerti came to a conclusion on the final evening of the season in a penetrating reading by Yefim Bronfman and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. I have yet to hear anyone prefer any other of the concerti to the Fourth, with its opening chords played so quietly and thoughtfully by the piano. From this signature the music spreads out in poetic, athletic, or even meditative dimensions. Mr. Bronfman's chords were thoughtful, but not etherial, establishing a middle ground between earth and the spirit, beginning deliberately and gaining momentum as the movement developed. His statement was direct and unpretentious like Sr. Frühbeck de Burgos' exposition that followed. Here the pianist plays against the strings together, and Bronfman's rich tone presented a fascinating contrast with the conductor's virile, transparent, but almost leathery quality. For the third evening in a row, the orchestra played with quite a different sound, responsive to the wishes of a conductor with whom they are thoroughly familiar. (Mr. Blomstedt is no stranger to Boston, but Mr. Dudamel is a newcomer.) The first movement unfolded as a dialogue between an tragic poet and a lyric. It was even more marked in the second, which impressed me as one of the most eloquent interpretations, I've heard. Here the orchestra accompanies the pianist's elegiac recitative with emphatic chords. Frühbeck de Burgos produced a massive, crisply accented statement from the orchestra, answered by the mournful lyricism of the piano solo. I felt there were two minds at work in this intelligent and moving reading. By the conclusion of the energetic and forward-moving finale, I was convinced I has heard a truly great interpretation of Beethoven's greatest piano concerto.
Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos is a familiar figure at the Boston Symphony, and last year his interpretation of such a familiar work as Beethoven's Fifth Symphony was truly amazing. Direct and straightforward, it made no apologies for Beethoven's ambition and grandeur and gave the audience a deeply satisfying reading of the work. He did the same with the only slightly less overplayed Seventh. His orchestral sonorities are big but clear, even transparent, and the inner details of the score come through. He observed repeats, which in the Seventh, as in the Fifth, are essential to the proportion of the work. The Seventh speeds by too fast, if they are not. This performance was grand in sound and grand in scale, with clear inner voices, strong accents, and a robust volume. As magnificent as it was, the reading war unpretentious, actually honest at the deepest level.
In the moments following the music, as orchestra and conductor received applause, the affection of the musicians for this great conductor was obvious enough. Their rapport has few limitations. We can count ourselves lucky that Levine's tenure admits such strong influences as Frühbeck de Burgos. The Tanglewood season closed on the highest possible level.