This past weekend’s concerts from the National Symphony Orchestra provided the second opportunity in the last month or so to hear Yundi Li play Liszt’s first piano concerto. The first time was with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra at George Mason (reviewed last month), and the coincidence demands a comparison.
On both occasions, Li has played the work with impressive accuracy and grace, with renditions remarkably similar to his recent recording. There were a few negligible mistakes here and there, sprinkled in different places than in the Fairfax concert, but Li again played with verve and grace, enough to convince even those uninclined to like this arch-Romantic concerto. Liszt supposedly had the concerto’s main theme echo the rhythm and intonation of a phrase in German — “Das versteht Ihr alle nicht!” (None of you understands that!) punctuated by “Nur ich!” (I alone!). That theme, forceful and a little pompous, sets the tone of the work, giving the virtuosic demands of the solo part a supercilious air. Language-derived melody is a common thread in Romantic music: Schumann did the same thing in the first movement of his Spring Symphony, as did Chopin in his ballades for piano.
It is good to give one’s ears some context when listening repeatedly to a local group of musicians. Unfortunately, but perhaps not surprisingly, the NSO did not stack up all that well against the Leipzig Gewandhaus. Leonard Slatkin’s low brass were as solid as ever, but the strings had a few bad passages and a general lack of unity, not glaring but noticeable. Concertmaster Nurit Bar-Josef’s brief solo moment with Li in the concerto was marred by a nervous-sounding vibrato. The winds were up and down in beauty of tone and accuracy, with the oboe being the worst offender. The percussion were mostly solid, although Li’s duet with the triangle could have used more tinkle. This is not to say that the NSO is not a good orchestra, having improved considerably under Slatkin’s tenure, but there are reasons that the group is not listed in the highest tier of excellent orchestras.
Photo of Yundi Li by Deutsche Grammophon
