Rudolf Buchbinder casts a Beethoven spell in Singapore

Beethoven piano concerto cycles are such rare events in Singapore that tickets get sold-out way ahead of the event. There have been just five such cycles in local history, performed by Anton Kuerti (1983), five different pianists (1998), Mikhail Pletnev (2004), Stephen Hough (2015) with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and home-grown pianist Lim Yan (2012) with The Philharmonic Orchestra. This most recent semi-cycle with Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder leading the Singapore Symphony from the keyboard omitted the Emperor, which Beethoven never performed in public with his deafness already at an advanced stage. 

One was not going to expect any surprises or idiosyncracies from Buchbiner, the echt-Viennese Beethoven interpreter of today, just solid music-making of the tasteful and authentic kind. The Allegro con brio of the Piano Concerto no. 1 in C major meant exactly that: fast and with spirit. When he needed to bring the ritornello to the desired volume, he would rise from the piano stool for a second or two and later settle when his solo began. The piano’s entry here was calm and undramatic, plainly spoken but with clarity and fluency. Projecting the piano’s rich sonority beyond the orchestra’s steadfast partnership was achieved without resorting to banging or histrionics. 

Climaxes were full-blooded, and the infamous octave glissando (Mozart would never have allowed that) was accomplished with fleet right hand octaves, not an easy feat. Buchbinder also performed the not-so-often heard Cadenza 1, which opens with descending chords on the right hand, followed by arpeggio sequences. Having been left incomplete by Beethoven, Buchbinder finished it off in the most satisfying way possible. The Largo was the epitome of grace and restraint, and peaked with the chorale melody resplendently accompanied by striding chords, a “wow” moment. The rollicking Rondo was pure joy embodied, taking the Scherzando direction at its word. The playful crossing of hands was likened to a game of tag, seeing the youthful Beethoven at his happiest. 

If one thought the First could not be topped, the more mature and sober Fourth Piano Concerto in G major under Buchbinder’s single-minded vision would do the job. The opening five bars for unaccompanied piano never sounded more simple, mere acorns from which a mighty oak would sprout. The orchestra’s contribution to match Buchbinder’s pianism would be one of hand and glove, the two united throughout, with Beethoven’s solo cadenza reminding one and all he was still the leading keyboard virtuoso of the age. A canny substitution of a right hand G flat for a G natural at its most thrilling passage also changed the tenor of the cadenza. 

The slow movement’s episode of Orpheus taming the Furies was not as brusquely contoured as Krystian Zimerman’s outing with the orchestra from last December, but the more pared-down approach still worked a treat. The finale relived the joie de vivre of the First’s Rondo, but it was a different kind of joy, less riotous and more sublimated, but no less valid a response. The final chord elicited a chorus of bravos, prompting an encore – the Rondo from the “Pathetique” Sonata, a sneak preview of Buchbinder’s solo recital to come.