Pianist del Pino Charms in Chopin Concerto
by
Lyn Bronson
Maestro Max Bragado-Darman led the Monterey Symphony in a
concert last night at Sunset Center in Carmel that treated us to works by
Mendelssohn and Beethoven, plus a performance of Chopin’s F minor Concerto
featuring the fine young pianist, Daniel del Pino.
In the opening work, Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides Overture” (“Fingal’s
Cave”), we heard some first rate ensemble playing (with the strings sounding
especially fine), plus some excellent solos from the woodwinds. This work always
makes a profound effect, and so it did on this occasion.
The soloist for the evening was Spanish pianist Daniel del
Pino making his debut with the orchestra in the Chopin Concerto. It has to be
said that if miraculously we could have brought Chopin back to life to witness
this performance he might have been astonished.
In Chopin’s time music patrons were not particularly polite and often
chatted with friends and moved about to socialize during performances – quite a
contrast to our well behaved and attentive audiences today. Chopin would also
have expected, in the custom of his time that at least one singer or
instrumental ensemble might have been inserted between each movement of his
concerto. But, most surprising of all
would have been the size of the orchestra, for in his time, orchestras
accompanying concertos were very small – perhaps as few as a dozen musicians.
What we observed on stage during Mr. Pino’s performance was a full orchestra
with large string sections and six double basses. This completely changed the
character of the performance, for Mr. Pino often had to work very hard to be
heard above the orchestral accompaniment.
However, in those sections where the orchestration was tacit or lightly
scored, we heard Mr. Pino in all his glory, for he is a most sensitive and
refined musician who can turn a beautiful phrase as well as any pianist alive
today. Where Pino really won our hearts
was in the gorgeous slow movement where he effortlessly spun out Chopin’s
glorious melodies with charm and passion. Although it is fashionable to
criticize Chopin’s weak orchestration, Berlioz admired the slow movement of this
concerto and especially the passages where the piano performs a recitative over
a string tremolo with its magical moment when the tremolo almost
disappears in a lovely sudden decrescendo. Pino gave us a strong and exciting
final Rondo movement and a great coda (with its introductory fanfare on horn
nicely played by Alex Camphouse). Bravo to Mr. Pino, and we will welcome him
back someday soon, we hope.
The concert ended with the great “Eroica” Symphony by
Beethoven. At its premiere on April 7, 1805, the music critic from the Austrian
journal Der Freiműtize said, “This
symphony has many beauties, but its interminable length will exhaust even the
most cultured listener and become unbearable for the ordinary music lover.”
Well, at fifty minutes, it is long, but it was only the slow movement that
seemed interminable in this performance, and I occasionally felt myself slipping
into the arms of Morpheus. Otherwise, it was a powerful and successful
performance that stirred the audience into a rousing standing ovation.
This concert will be broadcast on KUSP 88.9 FM on Sunday,
February 3, 2008 at 110:00 am.
