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New York / Masur / ConcertoNet / 30 avril 2008 |
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An Unassuming Debut
Harry Rolnick
David Fray has been acclaimed in Europe for several years now, but he
is hardly well-known here. The French-born 25-year-old has been
performing throughout the Continent both as soloist and with the major
orchestras. His recording of music by Pierre Boulez and J.S. Bach was named “best record of the year” by Le Soir of Belgium and The Times of London. Mr. Fray has won several esteemed prizes in Japan, Europe and Canada, and is n demand everywhere.
Yet his debut concert in New York took place only last night, not with
an American orchestra and certainly not with the most demanding
concerto. One wonders, in fact, who selects the work in which he will
show his face (and fingers) to the public, for the Beethoven Second Piano Concerto, while amiable enough, is not enough to draw the usual huzzahs.
The concerto itself was composed at about the same age as Mr. Fray
himself. An amiable work in the Mozart tradition (Beethoven wrote it
1795, earlier than the so-called “first” concerto), the first movement
is light, laid out plainly, and has a cadenza which is actually rather
fierce when played by the correct player. The second movement is quite
magical in its own way, and the final rondo is meant to show off the
renowned 18th Century pianist—in this case probably Herr Beethoven
himself.
Mr Fray was fortunate in being accompanied not by the New York
Philharmonic, but the younger French National Symphony, with the baton
of the ageless Kurt Masur. Their string playing was not as electrical
as certain American orchestras, but if an orchestra has a personality,
this would have been the comfortable Classical sound for a comfortable
work.
The opening movement was not underplayed, as is so common, but from the
first notes showed a pianist ready to exhibit his skills without any
particular modesty. Each note was clear, the phrasing limpid , and Mr.
Masur made certain a careful balance was between soloist and ensemble.
The cadenza, though, changed the entire mood of placidity. Beginning as
a fughetta, it developed, under Mr. Fray’s hands, carefully and almost
tortuously until he was storming the keyboard, the young lion raging to
escape from his Classical cage. Yes, this cadenza was written about a
decade after the first performance, but most pianists try to control
its power. Mr. Fray was not afraid to take it on at full blast.
The adagio is physically not a challenge, but Mr. Fray was
so emphatic in his playing that those single notes slowly parading down
the tonic and then dominant chords were each deftly punctuated. The
rondo is usually taken at a decorous allegro, but Beethoven
calls for “very” fast, and this is the way Mr. Fray played it: fast but
not furious, the tunes happily chattering away but without urgency.
And while Mr. Fray did essay a relatively forceful Beethoven, the work
itself does not have the bravura (or demagogic) force to have an
audience leap to its feet. Even in sophisticated New York, loudness and
clashes and whizzing climaxes with drums and cymbals (in the tonic key,
of course) calls for greater applause than the elegant little concerto
to which Mr. Fray was so attuned.
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