Cape Town Concert Series presents: George Harliono (Piano). Programme: Beethoven, Chopin, Rameau, Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky. City Hall.
ALBERT COMBRINK reviews
Pianist George Harliono kicked off the 70th Anniversary year of the Cape Town Concert Series with a Gala Recital at the City Hall. Coming fresh off the back of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s “Friends of Music Gala” on Thursday, where Harliono thrilled in a marathon Tchaikovsky Second Piano Concerto, one wondered why the recital was not sold out. What does it take in Cape Town to guarantee a sold-out house? Candles? A Tchaikovsky Competition Silver-Medalist, this young pianist is already counted amongst the young titans of the piano.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, No. 2, Op. 27, Quasi una fantasia, (Moonlight Sonata)
Harliono had to contend with an across-the-road Angle-Grinder duo partner for his “Moonlight” Sonata, and it was admirable that he kept his poise and cool throughout the distraction. We hear the “Moonlight” often: from that ultra-suggestive quiet first movement to the turbulent last movement, we no longer expect surprises. But Harliono played an exquisitely phrased and planned trajectory, with the sweet little Allegretto 2nd movement erupting into the unrelenting agitation of the 3rd, building to a dramatic cadenza that felt rather operatic. Even to modern audiences, the ferocity of this movement still comes as a surprise.
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op.23 & Ballade No.2 in F Major, Op.38
Chopin’s first two Ballades followed. Exquisite Cantabile playing and vocal phrasing made both these pieces a pleasure to hear. We all have our ideas about these pieces, and whether you liked Harliono’s Chopin or not, would depend on how you like your Chopin served. He played them well, with excellent musicianship and impressive fingerwork technique. Here enters my caveat; Chopin was a melodist, yes. Chopin was a Harmonic writer, yes. Chopin was a contrapuntalist, yes. But Chopin was not a colourist. Large washes of colour and texture was to come with Scriabin and Rachmaninoff. To my taste, the great Chopin players can keep the Bach-inspired counterpoint, the melodic material, and the operatic flourishes, in balance. Harliono plays a very good Chopin. I just think his own ability got in the way a bit – those fast Codas were hard to follow, and the harmonies did not always have time to hit the solar plexus. Impressive playing, and I wonder how he will develop in this repertoire in a decade or so.
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
Les tendres plaints (The tender complaints) | Les tourbillons (The whirlwinds)| Les Cyclopes (The Cyclops) | Les Sauvages (The title can mean literally “The Savages” or refer to a layer of government in the French province of Rhône),
After interval, we had a set of Rameau: four pieces originally conceived for harpsichord. Translating a 300-year old work to a modern instrument that had not even been invented at the time of composition, makes discussion of “how it ought to go” completely moot. Once you add all the extra pedals and octaves and sustaining qualities and replace “pluckers” with “hammers” you simply have no dogmatic point of departure. So, again. It depends how you take your Rameau – with a dash of pedal on the side, or not. I, for one, adored Harliono’s Rameau. Played like a Chopin Nocturne or a Mozart slow movement, the ‘Les tendres plaints” had a lot of pedal in the trills – an ornamentation style about which Rameau was particularly particular. These ornaments are an entire grammar on their own, and Harliono chose to make them melodically ornamental, to great effect. “Les tourbillons” was a light-hearted precursor to Debussy’s “Passepied”, while “Les Cyclopes” recalled Scarlatti. (Note to self: Check Harliono’s future repertoire because Scarlatti, Debussy and Szymanowski would suit him to a T.)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Dukma Op.59 “Rustic Russian Scene”
A precursor to Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsodies” followed – a superbly played Tchaikovsky “Dumka – where his evocation of the Balalaika and some kind of flute, grabbed the attention immediately. The title ‘Dumka’ (meaning ‘thought’ or ‘rumination’) points to an Eastern-European genre of improvised song with instrumental accompaniment, which Tchaikovsky had most likely encountered in Ukraine. The switching between slow and fast folk-inspired music felt natural and quite improvisational at times.
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1997)
Suite: The Firebird – Arranged for Solo Piano by Guido Agosti
The programme ended with a forest-fire rendition (as in white-hot snap-crackle-and-pop) of Stravinsky’s “Firebird” Suite in the Guido Agosti arrangement. Harliono was in his element, tossing off the hair-raising difficulties with ease, and in particular his glissandos had a special lightning-strike quality to them that made for an exciting close to the concert.
Encores showed Harliono positioning himself as a serious recitalist rather than an “entertainer”. We were treated to one of the longer Brahms Intermezzi, Op.118 No.2, played at quite a fast pace, but with exquisite phrasing and a really high-quality sound. He didn’t dawdle, making the work sound more youthful than one remembered it. The second encore was Liszt’s arrangement of Schumann’s song “Widmung”, played with brilliance and polish.
In April 2025 he will release a CD with the Tchaikovsky First Concerto and the Rachmaninoff Second Concerto. This calling card promises to be thrilling – but I hope it opens the door to other repertoire and that he does not get trapped in the competition-horse “rinse & repeat” repertoire driven by conservative concert-promotors and agents. Presently he studies with Pascal Nemirovski, international chair of keyboard studies at Birmingham City Conservatory. Let’s see where this journey takes him in a decade.
Next Cape Town Concert Series recital: 25 January 2025 | Baxter Concert Hall | 11am
Notos Quartet: Mozart: Piano Quartet in E flat major, KV. 493 | Walton: Piano Quartet | Schumann: Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op. 47
Tickets: Webtickets
WS
