For more than three decades, Andre Watts has been a consistent and major draw to the Ravinia Festival gates, always ensuring a large turnout even in these days of variable ticket sales and mercurial audience tastes.
Despite the wish that the American musician would someday expand his summer concerto repertoire, on his best nights Watts’ blend of controlled spontaneity, poetic phrasing and flame-throwing virtuosity have provided many memorable evenings in Highland Park. Such proved to be the case again Friday night at Ravinia where Watts’ brilliant pianism enlivened a ho-hum program of French and Russian warhorses with Christoph Eschenbach and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Whether it was the sultry weather or the anemic, lusterless Steinway, the rough-hewn performance of Franck’s lumbering “Symphonic Variations” didn’t get the evening off to a good start.
Andre Watts couldn’t play in a dull fashion if he wanted to, yet despite some supple solo work, Eschenbach’s accompaniment sounded under-rehearsed, and the low-voltage reading never got off the ground.
Fortunately, Watts was back in his element in a favorite work, Saint-Saens Piano Concerto No. 2. The frisky elegance and Gallic lyricism of this music plays to Watts’ strengths. From the Bachian opening cadenza–boldly, even defiantly projected–Watts combined bristling virtuosity with gentle liquid phrasing in winning fashion, his lightly brushed octaves as soft and even as cascading raindrops.
The quirky scherzando was tossed off with flair and piquant wit. If Watts’s hectic finale was short on Gallic refinement, the pianist’s on-the-edge velocity and bristling dynamism were stunning in their virtuosic display, and the final runs up the keyboard made for an unusually exhilarating coda.
The two Russian chestnuts received somewhat over-roasted treatment, high on volume and short on subtlety. Eschenbach’s souped-up performance of Stravinsky’s “Firebird” Suite (1919 version) was boldly outlined and predictably high-powered, with the thunderous chords of Kaschei’s Infernal Dance
rattling more than a few dental fillings in the house.
Yet while the playing was mostly well-groomed, Eschenbach’s “firebird” seemed more like a house wren with ambition, the gentle fantasy and iridescent coloring of this music going mostly by the boards.
Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1 suffered from a similar charm deficit. The musicians showed admirable control, keeping their composure in the Larghetto when the rains came and the rush for shelter on the lawn caused divers offstage sound effects. Yet, while incisive and energetic enough, the light touch and charm needed to make this music really work was lacking, with Eschenbach’s drawing out of the Gavotte’s theme too heavy-handed to provoke mirth.
During intermission, Barbara M. Irish of the National Federation of Music Clubs presented the group’s 1998 President’s Citation to the orchestra for its outstanding contributions to the world of music.
