Word: zimerman
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...with great skill. The BSO strings responded with a nearly flawless performance, and concertmaster Malcolm Lowe had many fine solo moments. At the end, the 62-year-old leather-jacketed Corigliano emerged onto the stage, and was called back several times. On the second half of the concert, Krystian Zimerman gave an excellent performance of the warhorse of all warhorses, Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto no. 2. (Actually, the inclusion of this piece was surprising, given that the concert calendar had clearly indicated that the third concerto was to be performed.) Zimerman is known for his wonderful tone, and this concert...
Last Friday evening Krystian Zimerman played before an audience that was suspicious of his tendency to cancel at the last minute. In the fall he bailed on an engagement to perform a Rachmaninoff concerto with the BSO and left many ticketholders scowling and cursing. This time around, playing explosively, he left ticketholders smiling and cursing the absence of a second encore...
...rich sotto voce approach was somewhat undone by an erstwhile banginess in the right hand; transparent scalar passages were a key ingredient in the strong finish. This piece reminded one of the best playing of the rude and unpredictable Vladimir Feltsman, who seems to patronize Mr. Zimerman's barber, if not vice versa...
...flat minor Scherzo, the piece used by that eerie little Russian girl to intimidate Richard Dreyfus in "The Competition," came off worse. Its main weakness was lack of dynamic range--or rather, lack of sensitive dynamic range, as one tended to be awed by Zimerman's ferocious key depth without forgetting the harsh sounds it sometimes produced. A stricter observance of tempi would also have been in order; this was Chopin, not Debussy. In any case the risks he took at high speeds were admirable, and his confident, blind leaps across three octaves are a reproach to showier pianists...
...night's finest performance came in the F minor Fantasy, Op. 49. The astonishing scope of this late masterpiece requires a pianist with patience and experience. Zimerman was comfortable in the realm of the Fantasy's quirks--a march-like theme at the outset is never recapitulated; the piece ends in the relative major, not the parallel major--which place it far outside the world of the salon. The virtues of his playing were many: sizzling arpeggios, perfect pedaling, nimble wrist octaves, barnburning virtuosity in the big contrary-motion sweeps, so much that he lifted himself off the bench...