Carnegie Hall: Denis Matsuev Performs Haydn, Schumann, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky

Despite the presence on yesterday evening's program of pieces by Haydn and Schumann, the real attractions of Denis Matsuev's recital at Carnegie Hall were the works of Russian composers Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky.  It was in fact after having heard the pianist perform Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto with the Mariinsky Orchestra under Gergiev last October at the same venue that I had gotten a ticket for this event.  Yesterday's recital had originally been scheduled for late January but had then been postponed after Matsuev had fallen ill and been unable to perform.

The program opened with Haydn's Piano Sonata in E-flat Major, Hob. XVI: 52 (1794), the last of the composer's sonatas and often considered his best.  It was written during his second visit to London and dedicated to Therese Jansen, a well known pianist of the time and the wife of Haydn's good friend Gaetano Bartolozzi.  The work is the very epitome of the classical tradition and it is interesting to compare it to piano sonatas Mozart had written only a few years before.

There followed Schumann's Carnaval, Op. 9 (1834-1835), one of the composer's most famous pieces for solo piano.  The work consists of twenty-one movements, each intended to represent a masked reveler at the carnival celebration that traditionally precedes the Lenten period.  As such, it is somewhat similar in theme to Schumann's earlier Papillons, Op. 2 (1831) which also purports to represent masked figures at a ball.  Carnaval is an extremely complex work - during his lifetime Schumann had always considered his piano compositions too advanced for the general public - and one whose intricacy is a test for the skills of any pianist.

After intermission, having disposed of Haydn and Schumann, the pianist arrived at what for me was the real meat of the recital - the works of the Russian composers.  First were two preludes by Rachmaninoff, the Prelude in G Minor, Op. 23, No. 5 (1901) and the Prelude in G-sharp Minor, Op. 32, No. 12 (1910).  The latter, as recorded by Vladimir Horowitz, is a particular favorite of mine and the one I consider the composer's best in this genre.

Following these short works came two pieces by Tchaikovsky, the Dumka in C Minor, Op. 59 (1886) and the Méditation, Op. 72, No. 5 (1893).  The pianist Vladimir Feltsman has written of the former piece:

"The Dumka is very popular and rightly so. There is everything here that a choreographer could want: melancholy, nostalgia, joy, wild dancing, celebration of the pleasures in life, and then a melancholy tune of indescribable sadness (besishodnost in Russian) before beauty returns. It is a very Russian 'scene' indeed!"

The second Tchaikovsky piece, the Méditation, was among the last he wrote for solo piano.  The work was one of eighteen pieces (the original intention had been to compose thirty) Tchaikovsky composed while working on sketches for the Sixth Symphony.

The final work on the program was Rachmaninoff's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 36, written in 1913 and then drastically shortened in the composer's 1931 revision.  Elements of both versions were later incorporated in a 1940 edition assembled by Horowitz that restored some of the cuts made by Rachmaninoff.  It was the 1931 version that was performed yesterday evening.

I was only able to stay for the first encore, Tchaikovsky's "May" from The Seasons, Op. 37b, No. 5.

Denis Matsuev is an extremely talented pianist and has been something of a celebrity ever since having won the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1998.  Still only in his thirties, he has already established a reputation for his expertise in the Russian repertoire.  It was apparent at this recital that he had chosen a program that would test his ability at the keyboard and show off his skills to the best advantage.  Though I did not think the Haydn was a good fit for his style, Matsuev was in full control on the Schumann.   It was in the second half, though, that he really displayed brilliance in his interpretations of Tchaikovsky's and Rachmaninoff's music.  Any pianist who attempts these does so with the ghosts of the past hovering about him - he knows even before he takes the stage that his playing will inevitably be compared to that of Horowitz and Rachmaninoff himself.  It is to Matsuev's credit that he accepted this challenge.  Certainly the audience at this sold out event was enthusiastic in showing its appreciation.

There was, incidentally, an intriguing moment at the end of the first half when Matsuev came out on stage to take a bow and then refused to accept a bouquet of flowers offered by an audience member.  Instead, he left it lying on the floor of the stage.  I do not know the story behind this or if it had anything to do with the Ukrainian protesters demonstrating outside the hall, but it did make for a moment of dramatic theater.