It was a Valentine’s Day love fest for Mitsuko Uchida’s solo recital. Severance Halll, bathed in a reddish glow, the color red worn by almost everyone except Uchida who wore her trademark gossamer top in bright blue, and (shall I continue with this?) the red-hot virtuosity of the soloist all combined to make it a festive night for eyes and ears.
Four great works by three great classical composers made up the program. From the first pensive notes that open the piece to the “boogie-woogie” attack in the middle sections, Uchida’s interpretation of Beethoven’s Sonata in E minor, Opus 90 proved continuously delightful. Fans of Schumann’s Davidsbundlertanze, Opus 6 could appreciate the distinction Uchida made between the composer’s different “characters” as they entered and left the stage. (I keep wondering why Schumann didn’t just “finish” something instead of starting an idea and then dropping it like a failed novelist who can’t get beyond chapter one.)
Two favorite Chopin works ended the program on a joyous note. Uchida evoked the magic of the composer’s knowledge of the heart and the piano as she played his Prelude in C-sharp minor, Opus 45 (pretty sure there’s a folk or country-western song hiding in there) and the dashing Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Opus 58.
The standing ovation (everyone seemed to love the concert) was rewarded with a little bit of Bach as an encore. It was a lucky bit of scheduling that the night before the concert, Uchida was named winner of the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (with Orchestra) for her recording of Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 23 and 24 with The Cleveland Orchestra.
Several dozen members of the audience sat on the stage and got a close look at the action. I’m not sure that sitting on the front row in the middle of the stage is the most comfortable place to sit for those who do not consider themselves performers, but I only saw two nod off to sleep. The rest gave rapt attention to the wizardry that makes Uchida great. The benefit recital, officially dedicated to Daniel R. and Jan R. Lewis (who donated a new Steinway grand piano for Severance Hall), celebrated the wonderful and continuing relationship between Uchida and The Cleveland Orchestra.
Laura Kennelly is a freelance arts journalist, a member of the Music Critics Association of North America, and an associate editor of BACH, a scholarly journal devoted to J. S. Bach and his circle.
Listening to and learning more about music has been a life-long passion. She knows there’s no better place to do that than the Cleveland area.