Asko|Schönberg, ensemble in residence at the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, opened the first edition of the Young Pianists Festival with a concert featuring two piano concertos, by György Ligeti and Klaas de Vries. The Dutch composer wrote his Second Piano Concerto for Daniël van der Hoeven, who won the Young Pianists Competition three years ago. Ligeti’s spirit pervaded the evening, for De Vries sought inspiration in one of Ligeti’s Etudes for piano, Hans Abrahamsen orchestrated two of these for ensemble, and the concert opened with Gougalōn by Unsuk Chin, a Korean–German composer who studied with Ligeti.
In a pre-concert talk, Klaas de Vries admitted having been a bit overwhelmed when he was asked to write a piano concerto to go alongside Ligeti’s masterpiece. “He’s one of the greatest composers I know, extremely versatile, always seeking new directions. The rhythmic drive in his Piano Concerto is totally different from the static sound clouds in pieces such as Atmosphères, or the cabaretesque antics in Aventures/Nouvelles Aventures.”
To avoid competition with Ligeti, De Vries decided to write a one-part concerto. Yet he pays homage to the Hungarian master by quoting the first bar of his piano étude Galamb borong, a riveting octave tremolo. De Vries made this small motive the driving force in the Second Piano Concerto. It pops up continuously, now in the higher registers of the piano, then in the grumbling depths of the lower keys. Daniël van der Hoeven is an alert player, who held his ground in the sometimes disruptive intermissions of percussion and brass. At other times, wispy harmonics from the string players created a sensual halo around the piano part, thus evoking the night atmosphere De Vries said he’s striven for. The piece ended abruptly after about ten minutes, leaving the audience gasping for more – perhaps De Vries should reconsider his idea of a one-part concerto, for this would make a very good first part.
Ligeti’s Piano Concerto was preceded by arrangements by the Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen of two of Ligeti’s Etudes, written in the same period (1985–88). The light, quasi impressionistic Arc-en-ciel was contrasted pungently with the darker En Supens, featuring wistful solos by the French horn.
These miniatures proved to be a good introduction to Ligeti’s colourful, five-part Piano Concerto, played with admirable gusto and precision by the Yugoslav–German pianist Tamara Stefanovich. During our pre-concert talk, she had compared its complex rhythms to a doll’s house: we can easily take in the activity on each separate floor, but are baffled when we try to grasp all the action simultaneously. A fitting comparison, for right from the start the uneven, limping rhythms, overlaying each other in dazzling complexity, grab the audience aggressively and leave them panting for breath. At other times “out-of-tune” quarter tones and languishing birdcalls – echoed by the piano – create a haunting, outlandish atmosphere. Stefanovich, Asko|Schönberg and conductor Reinbert de Leeuw gave wings to this demanding concerto, sustaining its tension from beginning to end.