MUSIC REVIEW PHILIPPE BIANCONI

Pianist shows off artistry, range in solo recital

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Barbara Zuck

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

After four appearances with the Columbus Symphony, French concert pianist Philippe Bianconi needed little introduction to the large Southern Theatre crowd that gathered to hear him last night. Yet in a wideranging program — an assembly of music significant from every standpoint and completely devoid of fluff — Bianconi revealed sides of his artistry that could not be discovered in any format other than the solo recital.

Nothing takes the measure of an artist like the recital, where each nuance and each second onstage is fully exposed. Small wonder that so many artists specialize in the work of one composer or period, or eschew solo performances altogether.

Bianconi’s program embraced challenging, often familiar works by four very different composers and proved he needed no place to hide, so much thoughtful musicianship supported and informed each highly accomplished interpretation. The often astonishing pianism always stood secondary to the musicmaking — except, of course, when they became as one in the final selections by Liszt.

In the slow introduction to Beethoven’s Sonata in C Minor ("Pathetique"), the pianist gave meaning to each harmonic change and clearly established the contrasting moods that characterize the entire first movement. His unaffected reading of the famous adagio encouraged the listener to hear it anew. The rondo built cumulatively to match, and finally surpass the drama that had gone before.

Bianconi’s journey through the constantly changing but always dark and turbulent waters of Schumann’s Kreisleriana amounted to artistry at its finest. The listener never lost the thoughts behind the notes or the often-surprising direction they took.

The three excerpts from Ravel’s Miroirs showed the consummate ease of an artist returning to very familiar territory, a tantalizing glimpse at what one suspects is a great affinity to the music of the French masters.

Liszt’s Sonetto 104 del Petrarca offers a rather too-serious side of this composer that was quite easily outshone last night by the sheer glories of the pianistic power and, yes, fiendish fun of the Mephisto Waltz No.1.

So, what is the measure of Bianconi’s artistry? Evidently, almost immeasurable.

The solo recital is slowly evaporating from the American concert scene. With memorable appearances by Garrick Ohlsson, Anton Kuerti, Richard Goode and now Bianconi sponsored by Chamber Music Columbus in recent years, the genre lives on in Downtown Columbus.

Reprinted with permission.