Festival Music
Rudolf Buchbinder
Playfair Library
Kate Molleson
Three stars
Rudolf Buchbinder’s cycle of Beethoven piano sonatas approaches its final third — and it does have the feel of a very measurable marathon, ticking off mileposts and landmarks along the way. There go the Tempest, the Moonlight, the Hammerklavier: tick tick tick. In this sixth concert the tally reached 22 sonatas, so ten more to go. It feels outrageous to count up such emotionally momentous music in so callous a way; each one of these sonatas is a minor miracle in formal invention and expressive depths. But somehow Buchbinder’s impassive delivery invites an impassive response. The august clock of the Playfair Library hangs above his piano, and he charges on as though he can’t escape its gaze.
Once again he was at his best in the programme’s gentler works. The Sonata in G Opus 14 No 2 had some delicacy and poise: the first moment themes were sweetly unadorned and the Andante was lightly mischievous. The stern funeral march of the Sonata in A-flat Opus 26 had some grit and gravitas, but it’s a shame Buchbinder’s tone becomes so harsh in loud passages. Where were the singing melodies? The joyous exuberance in the finale’s ballsy syncopations?
The Sonata in E-flat Opus 27 no 1 needed space for its wonderfully suspended opening, and its second movement textures were only moderately mysterious (they can be downright spooky). But the dramatic start to the Adagio was striking: occasionally Buchbinder gives us flashes of real charisma and it’s exciting. His Pathetique Sonata featured brusque opening chords, a plain-speaking Adagio and a steady, somber rondo. As an encore he played the finale of Opus 26 again, just as matter-of-factly as first time around.
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