THIS could be embarrassing, but I have to bite the bullet and get it said.
Why did so few people, a handful, considering the size of the hall, turn out for part two of Steven Osborne's survey of Ravel's piano music in Perth on Wednesday night?
Is it Perth? Is it because it was at night? Did they know the international calibre of the musician Perth Concert Hall had booked? Are they spoiled for choice? Are they interested? Do they care?
Well I do, though that's a discussion for another time. Suffice to say that those who did attend this extraordinary recital probably left with plenty to think about. There was much talk about Osborne's amazing colouring and dynamics in his powerhouse, re-defining performances of Miroirs, the Valses nobles et sentimentales, and his sensational account of Le Tombeau de Couperin, all of it warranted.
And there was intense discussion about his compelling characterisation of the music, from the pure steel and punchy delivery of the opening Valse, to the explosion of rhythm and vitality in Alborado del gracioso.
But my take was this: Osborne brought his own set of immaculate Ravelian qualifications to the programme. And with them he exercised technical and expressive command over the full palette of colours.
In an amazing feat of inspiration, he took all of that, slotted the details into place, and made the entire evening feel like a long-range series of improvisations. He liberated Ravel's music from orthodoxies of bar-line and pulse. The music, in its clarity of line, composition of texture and mood, felt as though it was evolving directly from the joint imaginations of composer and performer.
HHHHH
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