Ariel Lanyi at the Richmond Concert Society playing a very serious programme of just three great works: Beethoven’s Sonata op 109 ,Franck’s Prelude Aria and Final and Reger’s monumental Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Bach .
Last year Alim Beisembayev had given a recital here opening too with late Beethoven, the second of the last trilogy: op 110 .
Alim Beisembayev – The poetic vision of a great artist
Both had made their mark at the a Leeds International Piano Competition and both are revealing themselves to be extraordinary musicians dedicated with selfless humility to serving the composer and following with scrupulous attention the very precise indications that litter the scores of Beethoven.
Ariel is a very intense and dedicated musician following in the footsteps of Rudolf Serkin but he is also a supreme stylist where the composers indications are incorporated into interpretations of ravishing beauty and searing intensity.
I well remember Serkin playing this sonata op 109 as I also remember him as being the only pianist I have encountered that had the courage and conviction to bring Reger into the concert hall
Ariel’s op.109 was like the same apparition of Franck as it wafted into our lives on a magic wave of sounds .
The sounds of Beethoven played with scrupulous attention to not only what the composer marks on the page but more importantly the sounds that must have been in his head at the moment of inspiration.
Ariel playing with fervant dedication convinced us that this was the only path he could have taken today. And it was with one breath that he created a halo of sounds that never overstepped their essential place in a jig saw of dynamic drive and ethereal beauty, pulsating rhythmic intensity but also moments of sublime visionary peace.
Franck’s unjustly neglected twin received a performance of overwhelming nobility and the intense beauty of a true believer that one wondered why this was probably one of the all too few times we had heard it in the concert hall.A kaleidoscope of sounds but a masterly architectural control that when he reached the climax it was of such overwhelming sumptuous sounds that it truly was the cry of someone desperately wanting to share the vision of a dedicated believer with us.
Reger’s monumental variations were a tour de force in every possible way.Based on the Aria ‘No one can fathom his omnipotence’ unfolding in mellifluous Brahmsian style.Followed by variations of almost Paganinian complexity thrown off with enviable ease by an artist whose only concern was to find the true meaning behind this complex outpouring of nobility and extraordinary complexity.Starting like Brahms and finishing like Busoni with a fugue where the words knotty twine would be an understatement.Even with all these complexities Ariel played with masterly assurance and searing intensity.I don’t know if Ariel is a true believer but he certainly convinced us tonight that he is blessed by the Gods with a gift to see into the very heart of the music and to be able to transmit it with simplicity and humility.
Even the Chopin Nocturne op posth offered as an encore was played with the same aristocratic love and good taste that he had so generously shared with us all evening.
I have reviewed both the Reger and Franck recently in more detail that can be seen and even heard in the links below.
But Ariel is a great artist where there are no printed pages but every performances is a vibrant discovery and rejoicing that makes live performance still so essential in these days of instant communications.
It was Mitsuko Uchida who very wisely said when asked if photos or recording could be taken from her live performances .She simply exclaimed with her penetrating directness that a performance should remain a memory that grows and glows in the memory and not just a printed picture of a moment that with time will fade! As always so perceptive and right.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 