When musicians describe a work as awkward to play, they are referring to the finger gymnastics necessary to render a particular passage smoothly, one that may sound simple and straightforward to the listener. That category includes Dvorak’s Piano Concerto in G minor, which the British pianist Stephen Hough has described as “a concerto for 10 thumbs,” alluding to the composer’s unidiomatic writing. The awkwardness of the piano part is perhaps one reason the piece has never achieved the popularity of the Dvorak Cello Concerto; pianists who have played it have often used an edition that simplifies some of the difficulties while increasing virtuoso bombast. In recent years, musicians including Andras Schiff have performed the original. For an ostensibly neglected work, the G minor concerto has also received an impressive number of airings in New York recently: It was performed by Garrick Ohlsson and the Budapest Festival Orchestra in June and by Martin Helmchen and the New York Philharmonic in December. Mr. Hough became the latest champion of the original when he joined the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, conducted by Harry Bicket, on Thursday evening at Carnegie Hall. While the Piano Concerto isn’t as instantly appealing as Dvorak’s Cello Concerto, the work — with its blend of lyricism, passion and Dvorak’s trademark folk-tinged aesthetic — certainly deserves such regular airings. Mr. Bicket is known and admired as a leader of early-music ensembles and as an interpreter of baroque- and classical-era repertory. Here he elicited lithe, lean textures that were aptly balanced by Mr. Hough’s crystalline, impeccably voiced playing. Leisurely pacing allowed myriad details, like the Czech-inflected rhythms and melodies of the boisterous finale, to emerge with impressive nuance. Mr. Hough brought an alluring warmth and lyricism to the slow movement. Where Dvorak Puts Fleet Fingers to the Ultimate Test
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 19:36:32 +0000
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