PERFORMERS Singapore Symphony Orchestra Krzysztof Urbanski conductor Dmitri Alexeev piano
PROGRAMME KILAR - Orawa BEETHOVEN - Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 TCHAIKOVSKY - Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 ‘Pathétique'
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Polish conducting sensation Krzysztof Urbanski - who made his highly-successful Singapore debut in 2008 replacing an indisposed conductor on short notice - returns to conduct the Singapore Symphony Orchestra at the Esplanade Concert Hall on August 13.
The concert opens with a tone poem by Urbanski's compatriot Wojciech Kilar (better known for the score to films such as Dracula and The Pianist) and closes with Tchaikovsky's tragic masterpiece, the Pathétique Symphony. He is joined by Dmitri Alexeev in Beethoven's dramatic Piano Concerto No. 3, the only one of his concertos to be written in a minor key.
From the start of the 2010/11 season, Krzysztof Urbanski takes up the position of Chief Conductor of Trondheim Symfoniorkester having been appointed only a week after his highly successful debut with the orchestra in September 2009. Undoubtedly one of the most interesting conducting talents to emerge from Poland in recent years, Urbanski has been attracting a considerable amount of attention throughout Europe where he is appreciated by orchestras, critics and audiences alike.
Born in Moscow, Dmitri Alexeev began to play the piano at the age of five. A year later his talent took him to the Moscow Central Music School and then to the Moscow Conservatoire, where his professor was the eminent Soviet pianist Dmitri Bashkirov. Whilst pursuing graduate studies, he participated in several international competitions, capturing top honours at the 1969 Marguerite Long Competition in Paris, at the 1970 George Enescu Competition in Bucharest, and at the 1974 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. In 1975 he was unanimously awarded first prize at the Leeds International Competition in England.
Actually I can't believe he managed to make it as a young rockstar conductor (in a world of staid, dignified old men).
In any case the reason I went for this concert is certainly not because SSO is hot stuff but... Hahahaha!
Okay okay, I like Tchaikovsky and Beethoven you know. Hee hee hee.
Okay I'll be serious now. The performance tonight was seriously not bad. I never thought I'd say this, but SSO was in top form tonight (maybe their good looking conductor managed to charm their socks off). In any case, I never usually like modern works, but Kilar's Orawa was very good. Urbanski also managed to control the orchestra very well, considering the irregular beat of the song.
Beethoven was well done, the pianist Alexeev made a couple of smudged notes here and there, but I might be picking fishbones from eggs. One thing spoilt the show though, towards the end of the first movement, the music was at its most exciting and then... Urbanski lost control of his baton and it flew into the audience.
Being quite professional the orchestra went on, but I must say, it took me quite a while to get back to focusing on the pianist, and by the time I did, the first movement was over. I wonder if Alexeev is pissed off haha.
I can't say that I liked Alexeev's interpretation of the Beethoven though, I much prefer Brendel's or Berezovky's. Alexeev was a bit too... smudgy? The unison scales! And too hard and heavy at some points. Okay it could be that the seat I was in had lousy acoustics, I don't deny that Alexeev is a master.
Tchaikovsky's third movement was spectacular. The rest were good too, but this third movement was really quite something else. I think there were many people in the audience who wanted to stand up and clap after that movement. But there was still the fourth movement to go, so no.
Anyway Urbanski is really charming. When he strode onto the conductor's platform with a sort of a leap in his step, I heard some girls behind me muffle "So goodlooking!" I guess the youthful boyishness about him is very appealing, even though you don't really get to see him clearly.
Anyway what I liked about him was that he recognised his age was a huge barrier at this point of his career, and took care not to bask in the applause at all, only doing a short bow before cutting to the chase. At the end of performance, he had to do four curtain calls, and each time he only came out, gestured for the orchestra to stand and receive the applause, bowed and left quickly, leaving the applause for the orchestra.
I'll be watching his progress in the artistic scene!
Anyway why did SSO do so well today? Were they on drugs or something? Do they like angmoh conductors? what?
