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MONSTER CONCERT
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This amateur music making whetted the appetite for the real thing, and if the professionals could appear to do the impossible, so much the better. Virtuosos like Franz Liszt and the violinist, violist, and guitarist Nicolò Paganini deliberately cultivated diabolical airs to show their detachment from mere mortals. Liszt left his gloves behind for the ladies to fight over and was reportedly a galvanic, electric, preening presence onstage. He and other star pianists made fortunes traveling the European continent from their base in Paris.
As might be expected, the taste for large public spectacles included orchestral concerts, and a particularly notable one was organized in 1844 by Hector Berlioz for the Exhibition of Industrial Products in Paris. For the one-time event, he gathered a chorus and an orchestra of 1,022 musicians, including a double bass section 36 strong and a horn section of 24. The program included the final two movements of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, and the mind reels at the thought of the volume in that triumphant finale. It was reported that all involved played with a striking amount of precision.
It is not a huge step from a concert such as that to those organized by Louis Moreau Gottschalk. In fact, with its measly eight pianos, the Verbier event was rather tame by Gottschalkian standards. In 1860, he wrote a "Triumphal Hymn" and a "Grand March," which were performed by a 650-member orchestra that included 80 trumpets. Seven years later, he organized a concert in Cuba with works for 39 pianists and others for 150. Subtlety was neither his goal nor his forte.
But while we see a lot of fun and pianistic pyrotechnics at Verbier, performers' mannerisms in our age have changed too much for a true, Victorian-era sentimental monster concert -- ironically, since we equate such reserve with the Victorians. The only pianist who looks anything like the descriptions of the wizardly Liszt is Lang Lang, who appears to be having the time of his life singing along to "Yankee Doodle Dandy." He's the one performer from Verbier known for a showy attitude onstage. For that, some withering criticism has been volleyed his way, but vive la difference.
There are other musical rewards for listeners besides the showmanship, and each of the pianists demonstrates them in spades: the ability to look into a score and deliver its message without drawing attention to oneself, to play with sensitivity and a wide range of colors, to play a repertoire far more varied than those of the 19th-century virtuosos. In every area, these artists excel. And as is seen in the telecast, they can knock those 19th-century showpieces out of the ballpark, too.
Although the performers are reserved, there is one group of people who are obviously enjoying themselves: the audience. Watching them roar in approval makes one wonder if we couldn't stand to see more of these jaw-dropping displays at concerts.
Top banner photos: Pianists Emanuel Ax and Leif Ove Andsnes, Verbier Birthday Festival Orchestra, and the hands of pianist Mikhail Pletnev.
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Among the pianists performing the opening number, "Flight of the Bumble Bee," are Mikhail Pletnev and Staffan Scheja. |
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Cellists of the Birthday Festival Orchestra, Mischa Maisky and Boris Pergamenschikow. |
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This program is available on DVD. |
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