Kindly pardon my week-long absence – even bloggers appreciate occasional holidays (and many of us have other things to do for a living). But I still feel obliged to tell you about Jan Rautio, the brilliant and versatile young Russian pianist who graced the College of Charleston’s latest International Piano Series recital at the Sottile Theatre two weeks ago (November 13). During the seven years I’ve been attending this reliable series, I’ve heard maybe one or two pianists who failed to leave a positive impression. And remember, this is the series that’s brought some real keyboard gods to Chucktown: masters like Earl Wild, Abbey Simon, and – most recently – Leon Fleisher (one of this year’s Kennedy Center honorees). Series founder and host Enrique Graf knows how to pick them. Check out this year’s distinguished lineup HERE.
After early studies at the renowned Gnesin School of Music in Moscow, Rautio got his advanced training at places like London’s Royal Academy of Music. His busy career is centered in England these days, but his international calendar is filling up quickly as audiences all over Europe sample his work. Based on what I heard two Tuesdays ago, this pianist is definitely one to watch.
I can’t think of any country that has produced more truly great pianists than Russia: Rachmaninoff, Horowitz, Richter, Gilels, Cherkassky … and that’s just the top of the all-star list; I could fill up a fair paragraph with the rest, past and present. Their playing tends to be big-boned, audacious, technically brilliant, and often full of the kind of heart-on-sleeve passion and pain that the Russians seem to have a patent on. And Mr. Rautio could call up all of these qualities at will. But his playing also revealed the kind of subtle refinement that probably comes from his English training.
He began with an exquisitely studied, yet spontaneous account of Robert Schumann’s beloved Scenes from Childhood – a perennial recital favorite. He brought Schumann’s impulsive, manic-depressive range of expression and emotion to convincing life. He followed that up with an elegant and charming account of Mozart’s K. 333 Sonata in B Flat. Then a different side of his interpretive range emerged with a fiery rendition of Frederic Chopin’s famous (and beastly difficult) “Heroic” Polonaise in A-Flat. My left hand ached in sympathy during the pile-driving middle section that I practiced endlessly many years ago (and I never did get it quite right). While he didn’t give the piece the kind of cheeky swagger that I’ve heard from some, his reading glittered, with power and passion to burn.
After intermission, Rautio treated us to a brainy, dramatic go at Johannes Brahms’ four late Piano Pieces, Op. 119. It’s easy to sound clattery and overly solemn in some of these numbers. Jan never crossed that line, choosing to explore the composer’s lyrical side instead. Only in the final two pieces did his ancestral heritage shine through. And who better to bring out the tortured Russian in you than Sergei Rachmaninoff? Rautio gave him his due and more in the heart-rending Elegie, Op. 3, before finishing off with Polichinelle – a flurry of finger-twisting fireworks. Even though he avoided the kind of overblown sentiment I’ve heard from many of his countrymen, you knew a Russian soul was at work.
The respectable Sottile crowd tried in vain to get an encore from him (three curtain calls and a standing O) – but we already had much to be grateful for on this special night. Watch for news of the next in this series after Christmas – when you’ll get to hear Volodymyr Vynnytsky: a rather different breed of Russian pianist who’s already known to local chamber music fans.
