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French-born pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet took the stage of the Folly Theater last Friday in style, his tailored suit jacket showcasing the monogram of its designer, Vivienne Westwood, with satiny triangular ‘V’s on the upper sleeves and on the back of the jacket. Gliding briskly across the stage to the piano, Thibaudet’s outfit quite literally sparkled—one of my concert companions remarked how his gem-encrusted belt buckle resembled a diamondy Saturn. Tall and thin, the pianist also sported a diamond earring stud and a high starched collar, which the performer could be seen checking every-so-often to be sure it stayed in its resolutely ‘popped’ position.

In the second part of KCMetropolis’ two-part interview last week [read it here], Thibaudet discussed how he created this program to celebrate the many sides to Liszt’s piano literature on the occasion of the bicentennial year of the composer’s birth. Known as the ostentatious virtuoso, Liszt also wrote music expressing his other sides: “the poetic, the dreamy, the magical, the really deep, also the religious Liszt—[there will be] just a little bit of everything,” Thibaudet noted.

The first set of pieces, Liszt’s six Consolations, showcased the composer’s profound and dreamy sides. Thibaudet began the opening Andante con moto leaning back with his arms outstretched towards the keyboard. The most famous of the set, the third Consolation in D-flat major, begins almost exactly like Chopin’s famous Nocturne in D-flat, Op. 27, No. 2. Whereas Chopin gradually leaves the dreamy opening in favor of a brocade of right hand ornaments, Liszt maintains the opening atmosphere. Thibaudet lingered awhile on the penultimate chord, exploiting the beautiful suspension for all its worth.

Next, I was excited to hear one of my favorite Liszt pieces, Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este, which comprises the third year of the composer’s Années de Pèlerinage. Particularly fitting for a performance in Kansas City, itself a fountain city, depictions of the Villa d’Este’s many fountains were abound in swirling thirty-second-note arpeggios and bubbling four-note trills. In Thibaudet’s hands these gestures were delicate and pristine. The seamless transitions between the trills are especially difficult and here they were effortless. The trills and tremolos called for by both hands in turn are often performed as unmeasured. In Jean-Yves’s interpretation, I was struck by the regularity of the gossamer-like gestures, as though they were written as measured thirty-second- or sixty-fourth-note trills and tremolos.

The Deux legendes showed the religious side of Liszt in two programmatic works, St François d’Assise: la prédication aux oiseaux and St. François de Paule marchant sur les flots. During the first of the set, an anxious audience shifted in their seats, perhaps expecting more of the virtuosic displays found in Liszt’s more ostentatious pieces and not so much the introspective side shown here and in the Consolations. The audience were moved to a rousing ovation and a chorus of “woos” after the second of the set, though, as what began as dark, ominous music transformed into a dense, reverent texture that featured virtuosic left-hand scales and chromatic figures. The accolades suggested that the audience did not seem concerned with Thibaudet’s occasional missed notes in the piece, surely something one must expect with a solo recital of all Liszt.

The second half of the program featured two of Liszt’s many arrangements of other composer’s work interspersed with two Liszt showpieces. Though certainly full of Liszt’s piano stylings, these arrangements brought a welcome variety to the program without sacrificing continuity, allowing the idiosyncratic harmonies and melodies of Chopin and Wagner to take a turn filling the theater. In “Meine Freuden” from Chants polonais, Chopin’s melodies were underpinned by Liszt’s accompaniaments which at times resembled whispy clouds or moving water. Thibaudet exhibited excellent pianistic control in the arrangement of Wagner’s “Isoldes Liebestod” from Tristan und Isolde. Just as the texture was about to brim over into extravagance, Thibaudet demurred, allowing the texture to fade away to nothing. Following the exciting climax of the transcription, the audience was rapt with attention as Thibaudet held onto the last chord for nearly a quarter of a minute as it slowly died away.

The second Ballade in B Minor was sandwiched in between the Chopin and Wagner transcriptions. I was struck by a prominent chord progression which reappeared throughout the Ballade which I would describe as one of Liszt’s several ahead-of-his-time contributions to music. The nonstandard progression could easily find its way into Thom Yorke’s compositions for Radiohead. Thibaudet exhibited virtuosic left-hand octave gestures and quartal arpeggios, though he again flubbed a few notes here and there. This was the kind of quintessential Liszt piece the audience had come for and Thibaudet did not disappoint, bringing out all the requisite fire and volume at his disposal. The end of the piece saw the pianist staring off into space at the back curtain of the Folly’s stage in a trance-like state.

Saving arguably the biggest showpiece for last, Thibaudet dove into the Tarantella from the  Venezia e Napoli set which, itself, is usually billed as a supplement to the second year of the Années de Pèlerinage. Scales and arpeggios in octaves, fourths, sixths, and even tritones were abound at both pianissimo and fortissimo dynamics. One of my concert companions was floored by the impressive repeated note tremolo melodies in a particularly lively part of the Tarantella. The pianist offered an beautiful, obscure Liszt piece, The Tolling Bell, and a more familiar Chopin waltz as his encores. Thibaudet participated in an audience/artist conversation following his performance where he complimented the Folly’s Hamburg Steinway piano, answered questions about his art song partnerships with Cecilia Bartoli and Renée Fleming, and detailed a day-in-the-life of this touring schedule.

I think Jean-Yves Thibaudet certainly accomplished what he set out to do with his all Liszt recital program. Though many expected a nearly full program of virtuosic display, the audience seemed won over by the end of the program, appreciating Thibaudet’s offering of the profound The Tolling Bell encore as much some of the showier program pieces. I was personally quite happy to be introduced to the Consolations, a lovely set to explore and play even if you aren’t quite up for learning the Tarantella or Ballade.

REVIEW:
Harriman-Jewell Series
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
Friday, January 28, 2011
Folly Theater
300 W 12th St, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-415-5025 or visit http://hjseries.org

Photos by Kasskara Decca

By Topher Levin

Classical Editor and Contributor

Christopher (Topher) Levin is a composer, pianist, music theorist, and music blogger based in Kansas City, MO. His compositions have been performed at music festivals across the US and in Europe. He has spent two summers in Paris, France studying music at the Ecole Normale de Musique through the EAMA program. His trio for clarinet, piano, and percussion is published in the SCI Journal of Scores.

Topher holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (M.M.) in music theory and (M.M.) in composition and from James Madison University in Virginia (B.M.) in composition. Primary composition teachers have included John S. Hilliard, Paul Rudy, Zhou Long, James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Claude Baker, Narcis Bonet, Michel Merlet, and João Pedro Oliveira. His piano teachers have included Patricia Brady and Karen Kushner. Topher maintains a piano studio of 22 students.

Having recently completed a Master's thesis on the beautiful complexities of Chinary Ung's trio, Spiral I, Topher turned his writing attention to the more informal blogging medium. He has taken to it quite well, sharing posts on strange and wonderful music and art found across the web with a modest but growing number of blog followers. He looks forward to writing for KCM and sharing with its readers the stories of all the amazing musicians performing in Kansas City.