Carnegie Hall: Mitsuko Uchida Performs Schubert and Beethoven

Yesterday evening, renowned pianist Mitsuko Uchida performed works by Schubert and Beethoven in recital at Carnegie Hall.  I had anticipated attending this performance for months and was not the least disappointed in what I heard.

The first half of the program was taken up by Schubert's Piano Sonata in G, D. 894 (1826).  Given the misleading title of Fantasy, it was one of only three sonatas to be published during the composer's lifetime.  It is a serene work that evokes for the listener the mood of a sunny day.  As such, it was a perfect vehicle for Ms. Uchida's light touch on the piano.  Her playing was lucid and recalled to mind Alfred Brendel's wonderful recording of the same work.  Thoroughly respectful of the composer's intentions, this performance brought out the full limpid beauty contained in the piece.

After intermission, Ms. Uchida performed Beethoven's 33 Variations on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, Op. 120 (1819-1823) more commonly referred to as the Diabelli Variations.  The genesis of the work was in a project envisioned by Anton Diabelli, a Viennese music publisher, in which he enlisted a number of well known composers to provide variations on a simple waltz which he himself had composed.  The profits from the publication of these variations were intended for the relief of those children orphaned by the Napoleonic Wars.  A number of composer's complied with Diabelli's request but there is an apocryphal story related by Schindler, that most unreliable of biographers, that Beethoven  at first refused the commission and angrily rejected the original waltz submitted to him as a schusterfleck ("cobbler's patch") unworthy of his talents.  For whatever reason, rather than contribute only one variation, Beethoven instead eventually composed 33.  These are generally seen as the crowning achievement of his works for solo piano and one of the masterpieces of his late period.  It is an extremely demanding work for the pianist and also requires the full attention of the audience in order to appreciate its complexity.  In her recital, Ms. Uchida gave a radiant performance of the work that did full justice to Beethoven's genius and provided listeners with a great deal of insight into the composer's achievement.

There was no encore.  Anything performed after the Beethoven would have been anticlimactic.  In any case, Ms. Uchida appeared thoroughly drained as she took her bows to a standing ovation.  She had obviously put everything she had into this recital and had triumphed brilliantly in her interpretations of these great works.  Though there had never been any doubt as to her abilities, her performance at this recital secured her place among the great pianists of our time.  I felt fortunate to have witnessed it.