Tanglewood, Lenox, MA
July 24, 2013
by Michael J. Moran
Paul Lewis was originally scheduled to play a Mozart piano
concerto with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. When that ensemble cancelled for
lack of funding, the rising young English pianist decided to present a solo
concert of the last three piano sonatas by Franz Schubert instead.
Having recorded and performed these pieces elsewhere to wide
acclaim, Lewis easily met the technical and interpretive challenges of this
daunting program. All three sonatas were written during the summer of 1828,
only months before Schubert’s untimely death at age 31. Lewis is a physical
pianist, who brings his whole body to bear on the keyboard, but always in an
organic way that disdains mere showmanship. His overall demeanor was modest and
businesslike.
The C minor sonata, D. 958, got the concert off to a
dramatic start. Lewis took the opening “Allegro” movement at a brisk but
moderate tempo, with a subtle and tasteful rubato that he used throughout the
evening to enhance the natural flow and expressive power of the music. His
rendition of the following “Adagio” movement was deeply expressive. In the A
major sonata, D. 959, his relaxed approach to the closing “Rondo” movement,
following a mercurial “Scherzo” and “Trio,” capped a performance on an
unusually grand scale.
The B-flat major sonata, D. 960, which followed
intermission, is generally ranked as Schubert’s greatest sonata, but by
omitting the first movement repeat, Lewis emphasized its kinship with its two
sibling sonatas rather than its distinction as the composer’s final statement
in this form. The delicacy of Lewis’s playing and his careful attention to
inner voices that are not always heard so clearly was especially evident in the
poignant “Andante sostenuto” and the fleeting “Scherzo.” An energetic finale
brought this inspired performance to a rousing close.
The house at Ozawa Hall was less than full, but the
enthralled audience gave Lewis a prolonged standing ovation at the end of this
auspicious Tanglewood debut by a major international talent who will hopefully
be invited back soon.
