Boston Globe Concert Review 4-1-09

April 1, 2009

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2009/04/01/a_pianist_at_the_top_of_his_game/

A pianist at the top of his game By David Weininger Globe Correspondent

Murray Perahia's artistry has undergone something of a transformation since the pianist battled a hand injury during the 1990s. Where his playing was once marked chiefly by understated elegance, more recent performances and recordings have showed a musician dialed in to his more volatile, Romantic side. When Perahia holds both sides of his personality in balance, as he often did at Sunday's recital, he is a remarkably complete and compelling pianist. MURRAY PERAHIA, pianist Presented by Celebrity Series of Boston At: Symphony Hall, Sunday

He opened with the first Partita of Bach, a composer who has been at the center of his repertoire over the last decade. It began somewhat stiffly but blossomed into a reading of flowing lyricism. Many pianists highlight the detail of Bach's scores, but few can do so with the gorgeous, diamond-like sonority that Perahia imparts. The fusion of the Apollonian and Dionysian sides of the pianist's personality found its most effective expression in Mozart's Sonata in F major, K. 332. Perahia took care to underscore the dark forces that lurk beneath Mozart's seemingly idyllic melodies. Every time the music shifted into the minor key it sounded driven and intense, as if something of existential importance were at stake, but the effect was never achieved at the expense of fluent, idiomatic phrasing. If the Mozart had a suggestion of Beethovenian intensity, Beethoven's "Appassionata" sonata had traces of Mozart's grace. Refinement and poise are not words often attached to this tempestuous product of Beethoven's middle period, but Perahia took every chance the score gave him to emphasize clarity over volatility. The famously eruptive series of chords in the first movement had growth and direction, rather than exploding onto the scene as they usually do. And his slower-than-usual tempo in the finale allowed him to articulate

precisely notes that often go by in a blur. Not everything worked, and there were an unusual number of finger slips, but it was a thoughtful reimagining of a familiar staple. Brahms's "Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel" was not only the program's final entry but also, in a way, its logical outcome. Here were Bach's counterpoint, Mozart's eloquence, and Beethoven's intensity all synthesized into one monumental whole. Perahia let it unfold with a keen sense of its overall architecture. Phrases that were repeated would be played differently the second time, as if he were seeing them not as repeats but as crucial parts of a larger whole. A few missed notes seemed a small price to pay for such insightful musicianship. Perahia offered a large and enthusiastic audience a single, familiar encore: Schubert's Impromptu in E-flat, Op.90 No. 2.