Monday’s Intermezzi Series opener at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church was jam-packed, and for good reason. Andrew von Oeyen, Spoleto’s perennial piano darling (at least for the six straight years he’s been here), was the main draw.
And not only did he dazzle us yet again with his keyboard wizardry, but he conducted the entire concert, too. Back in the days of Mozart and Beethoven, pianists often conducted their backup orchestras from the keyboard. But it’s only been in the last couple of decades that modern pianists have taken up the practice again. This is the second year running that von Oeyen’s done this: last year, he did dandy double duty in concertos by Haydn and Mozart. Either he’s gotten some effective coaching from his friend and colleague Emmanuel Villaume, or he has a natural knack for conducting. Probably both.
The leadoff number was Kleine Dreigroshenmusik – a suite for small concert band and piano (no strings) based on hit tunes from Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera (Hey, with a little help from Bobby Darin, everybody knows ‘Mack the Knife.’). If you heard this on top of Weill’s Mahagonny – this festival’s magnum operatic opus – the connection will be obvious. Weill is one of those composers you can peg in seconds, no matter what it is you’re hearing from him.
This piece was really more a tribute to Weill than an opportunity for von Oeyen to shine as a pianist – ‘cause the piano was just one instrument among many here; not the flashy solo act. He was more like a jazz-band leader here, with light instrumental side duties. And it sounded really great. Remember: Weill might’ve been a German – but he left his unmistakable stamp on modern American music. And Von Oeyen – along with his youthful colleagues from the Spoleto Festival Orchestra – caught his unique spirit very nicely.
Andrew then went on to remind us why he’s one of America’s finest young pianists in the next piece: Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Actually, this is the second piano concerto Ludwig wrote – it just got published first. Still, it’s a fairly early work, belonging partly to the stylized world of Haydn and Mozart. But flashes of Beethoven’s unique voice (and genius) are heard – along with a piano part that very few can play well.
I can’t imagine the absolute skill, confidence and concentration it must take to play a fiendish piano part to near-perfection while attending to the directorial needs of a substantial chamber orchestra. That could have something to do with why most pianists haven’t dared to try it.
But – with inspired help from his brilliant SFO colleagues – real magic happened here. The thirty or so orchestral players hung together with the tightness and precision of a seasoned string quartet, weaving the perfect musical foil to von Oeyen’s exquisitely clear and incisive playing. They were the most intimate of musical “families,” each voice feeding off the other with prescient sympathy. And you could tell that they were all simply having a ball. Yet another Intermezzi series off to a very special start.
