Concert Review: Mitsuko Uchida Plays Beethoven
Veteran pianist offers exalted music-making
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 30 in E, Op. 109, Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat, Op. 110, Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
February 17, 2023 — Union College, Schenectady, NY
I've always enjoyed Uchida's recitals, and in this one she offered powerful readings of three of the greatest works ever composed. Some indistinct runs and trills suggested that, at 74, she may no longer be in her technical prime; but she remains a compelling artist.
These were, by today's standards, "romantic" interpretations — generous use of pedal and rubato, full-bodied piano tone, and slow movements given plenty of time to breathe and sink in. Since I prefer Beethoven as Romantic to the Beethoven as Long-Winded Haydn proffered by so many period-instrument specialists, I found Uchida's basic approach and sensibility quite welcome.
Moments that stick in the mind: Like her sometime mentor Wilhelm Kempff, but unlike many non-period players, Uchida took the main theme of Op. 109's slow movement at a true Andante, as marked. The restatement of this theme at the movement's conclusion was beautifully relaxed, just a shade slower than at the beginning — rightly, it sounded exhausted after the turmoil of the variations. She perfectly caught the mood of Op. 110's opening phrase (songful, yet pensive), and the arioso in this sonata's slow movement had a steady, mournful tread that was most powerful. If Uchida's Op. 109 called Kempff to mind, her Op. 111 was closer to Claudio Arrau. Those fierce opening chords were heavily emphatic and rhetorical, the main allegro played more for grandeur than drive. And what wonderful patience and lovely pianissimos in the later pages of the Arietta.
Most importantly, in the climactic moments of all three works — the final variation of Op. 109's slow movement, the coda of Op. 110, and the heavily syncopated third variation of Op. 111's Arietta — Uchida conveyed just the right sense of spiritual ecstasy, of musical language being stretched to the breaking point.
This was elevated playing in every sense.