
On March 25th, 2018, Russian piano virtuoso Boris Berezovsky returned to Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan, Chicago after a 20-year absence as part of The Symphony Center Presents Piano Series. The deeply Russian-inspired program included 6 pieces by the composer/pianist Mily Alexeyevich Balarikev, 6 by Sergei Rachmaninoff, 7 by Alexander Scriabin, and 6 by Anatoly Liadov. The entire program was impressive and enthralling, an in-depth comprehension of the scope of this music, incredibly played sans score! This reviewer in particular appreciated the utterly absorbing performance of the Rachmaninoff Sonata.
THE PROGRAM:
BALAKIREV Mazurka No. 5 in B-flat Major
BALAKIREV Mazurka No. 4 in G-flat Major
BALAKIREV Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat Minor
BALAKIREV Nocturne No. 1 in B-flat Minor
BALAKIREV Scherzo No. 3 in F-sharp Major
BALAKIREV Islamey, Oriental Fantasy
LIADOV Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Op. 44
LIADOV Mazurka in F Minor, Op. 57, No. 3
LIADOV Prelude in B Minor, Op. 11, No. 1
LIADOV Prelude in G Major, Op. 46, No. 3
LIADOV Prelude in B-flat Major, Op. 13, No. 2
LIADOV Prelude in D-flat Major, Op. 10, No. 1
RACHMANINOV Five Preludes from Op. 32
SCRIABIN Three Etudes from Op. 42
SCRIABIN Three Etudes, Op. 65
SCRIABIN Sonata No. 5 in F-sharp Major, Op. 53
RACHMANINOV Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 36

– Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev Selected Works (2 Mazurkas, 2 Scherzos, a Nocturne) and Islamey, Op. 10, 1869
Balakirev wrote a great many pieces of music, a large number of which, including his Scherzos and Mazurkas, “make virtuoso demands hardly less severe than those of the famous Islamey.”
The Mazurkas were lively and tuneful, distinctly bold and intelligent. The Scherzos were reminiscent of the work of Liszt, splendid and almost fierce. The Nocturne, rarely performed, contained truly beautiful harmonies, occasionally reaching rhapsodic levels.
Islamey has been called unplayable, but Berezovsky put paid to that notion! The piece, referred to as an “oriental fantasy”, has a wild, deep and dark character, filled with influences from Caucasian and Armenian folk music. The performance was clear and well organized.
– Anatoly Liadov Selected Works (4 Preludes, a Mazurka and a Barcarolle)
Liadov, a Russian composer, conductor, teacher, and collector and arranger of folk songs, composed numerous piano miniatures. The pieces performed contained some that were quietly melancholy and others that were lyrically charming and softly witty.
The Barcarolle was presented in a masterful way, filled with folk lyricism and sincerity. The entire set of selections was played with penetration, dominance over the instrument, and zest.
– Sergei Rachmaninov 5 Preludes from Op. 32, 1910 and Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 36, 1913, 1931
Rachmaninoff ultimately produced a set of 24 preludes that cover all 24 major and minor keys, although they were written and published at different times, not created as a unified set. In 1901, he wrote his Prelude in G minor, which wasn’t published until he had completed nine more preludes in 1903, the set of 10 becoming his Op. 23, all in different keys. In 1910 he obviously and definitely decided to complete the set of 24, publishing 13 preludes, Op. 32, covering the remaining 13 keys.
The selections were accomplished with an attention to purity and form, straightforward, no pyrotechnics, the honest and committed playing for which Berezovsky is known.
The Sonata No. 2 is a very compelling piece, opening with an instantly aggressive Allegro agitato, plunging and kinetic. The second movement followed immediately, veering from sadness through nostalgia to a fevered pitch before the deeply descending segue into the nervous soaring finale, sounding sometimes like a dream march and ending in a blast of triumphant sound. The whole piece keeps one breathless for the entire 20 minutes- it is almost extravagantly virtuosic, yet approached here with a sense of it’s tight organization and formally elegant underpinnings- ending with a final virtuoso wash of triumphant sonority. The impact of this wonderfully logical piece in the hands of this great pianist was emotional, even visceral.
– Alexander Scriabin 6 Etudes and Sonata No. 5 in F sharp, Op. 53, 1907
The initial set of Etudes performed here from 1905 reveal a composer with a mature style, with daring harmonies, yet an overall ethereal sound. They are impressionistic and emotional, if leaving the listener feeling unresolved. Scriabin completed the next 3 Etudes, Op. 65 for solo piano in 1912 as exercises to demonstrate command of perfect intervals.
Berezovsky’s technique appeared flawless; he seemed to play these works with strength and ease, delivering a deal of poetry from these compositionally intricate exercises. The selected pieces are transparent, lovely, intriguing.
The Fifth Sonata, described by Scriabin himself as “a great poem for the piano,” is one of Scriabin’s most frequently played, and has a concentrated and intense intonation. Calling forth 12 minutes of extremely passionate and complicated fingering, it ranged from delicate and “wandering” harmonies to a more deliberate and heated sonority- then back again!
– In encore, Frédéric Chopin Waltz in A-flat Major, Op. 42, 1840 and Waltz in A-flat Major (The Farewell Waltz), Op. 69, No. 1, 1835
These 2 technically demanding pieces, performed with nuance and sensitivity, were each presented with finesse and a final gently teasing flourish. The first is memorable in that it contains an entrancing coda, the second begins in a world-weary vein, becoming more cheerful and almost playful. Berezovsky presented these waltzes, famously not for dancing, with more than a glimpse of hidden darker moods under the romance.

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