Bruce Liu plays Tchaikovsky – Ortiz, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky/ Ravel – Philharmonia Orchestra – Santtu-Matias Rouvali @ the BBC Proms

Ortiz
Antropólis

Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No.2 in G major

Mussorgsky, orch. Ravel
Pictures at an Exhibition

Bruce Liu (piano)

Philharmonia Orchestra
Santtu- Matias Rouvali

First things first. This Prom opened with a vibrant portrait of nightlife in Mexico City from Gabriela Ortiz called Antrópolis, redolent of steamy nightclubs and cabarets. It is a 10-minute piece that aims to tell the story of Mexico City through its popular music and dance. The work has had quite a few outings since its debut in 2018, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra played it at the Festival Hall in 2023. It is high energy with loads of percussion, plenty of colour, vocal interjections, punchy brass, and mambo rhythms. Comparisons with Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story are obvious but Richard Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks didn’t seem too far away in the impish delight in orchestral colour. The Philharmonia and Santtu-Matias Rouvali played it to the hilt and the virtuoso timpani cadenzas from Antoine Siguré were stunning. You can see why it is starting to find a place in the repertoire and the Prommers loved it. It’s a banger. 

The main event was Bruce Liu making his well- publicised Proms debut. Liu obviously likes the Tchaikovsky Second Piano Concerto as he played it on his London debut with the Philharmonia in 2022. It is a tricky work to bring off in view of its length (44 minutes), uneven structure (the first movement is too long, the chamber- like second movement contrasts oddly with the rest of the work) and virtuosity is required, especially in the solo cadenzas in the first movement.  I’ve enjoyed performances on record by Peter Donohoe and Viktoria Postnikova and live at the Proms by Pavel Kolesnikov in 2016, but it has often disappointed. It has effectively been used for the ballet – in George Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial.

Bruce Liu thankfully used the original version rather than the truncated and much altered version by Alexander Siloti. It is a work that suits Liu with his clean and crisp playing, pristine tone and effortless technique. He avoided too much blood and thunder but delivered deft strokes of drama where necessary and he threw off the fistfuls of notes in the lengthy first movement final cadenza with panache. After a slightly sluggish start, there was a sensitive blend with the orchestra in the opening movement that drew you gradually into the music. The second movement has one of Tchaikovsky’s loveliest melodies and the violin and cello solos had a chamber-like quality, not taken too fast, from Zsolt- Tihamér Visontay(violin) and Steffan Morris, (cello). Liu’s interplay with them was like an articulate conversation amongst friends. The third movement was energetic and dynamic, taken at a fast pace with Liu often seeming to be paying homage to Tchaikovsky’s world of ballet. Overall, it was a highly impressive performance, if a touch cool, and I have the feeling it will have worked very well on the radio. Liu’s encore was Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag with bassist Tim Gibbs and Santtu- Matias Rouvali indulging his passion for his drum kit. Great fun. 

Mussorgsky’ s Pictures at an Exhibition closed the programme, this year in Maurice Ravel’s incomparable orchestration rather than last year’s enjoyably eccentric – and loud- version from Sir Henry Wood. Mussorgsky’s Pictures was originally written as a piano cycle to commemorate the painter and architect Viktor Hartman. Rouvali tried to bring some individual touches to a familiar work with only limited success. There was no sense of accumulating nostalgia in the linking promenades, some of the pauses seemed mannered, and tempi were wayward. All sections of the orchestra were on top form throughout, especially the woodwind and brass. The opening sections seemed dry and airless, but the Old Castle had a misty tenderness, especially from Simon Haram on the saxophone. The Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks had a perky impetuosity, particularly from the woodwind and harp. Detail could have been clearer in Limoges Market Place, but the Catacombs had mesmerising quiet string playing. Baba Yaga had the appropriate grotesquerie with extremes of dynamic, if a little rushed, and The Great Gate of Kiev had force and final tumult with big, rounded brass and trenchant percussion (plus large bell). I appreciate Rouvali tried to cast a new light on Mussorgsky/Ravel’s masterwork, but it seemed too fastidious and lacking in real characterisation, despite the excellence of the playing.