Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with Nobuyuki Tsujii, piano. January 25, 2014.

Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, Section Balcony (Seat M3, $35.)

Program – All Beethoven (1770-1827)

Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 (1807)

Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36 (1802)

Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73, Emperor (1809)

Ever since we stopped subscribing to their concerts, we only go sporadically.  The last time we went was April 2012.  The reason we went today was because of the soloist, well-known for being a (joint) gold medalist at the 2009 Van Cliburn Competition, and for being blind.  He was the second half of the program.

The overture was written for a play that debuted in 1802 and was dormant by the time Beethoven came around to write the music.  It was played once for that purpose, and has become a stand-alone piece, one seldom played at that.  Despite all these strikes against it, I enjoyed the short 8 minute piece.  Actually I enjoyed it so much that I was ready to revisit my decision to not renew my subscription to the orchestra’s concerts.

Well, the Beethoven symphony brought me back to earth.  The problem with Orpheus is not that it is a bad orchestra; sitting in the balcony, the sound actually is very good.  If I have to use an adjective to describe it, the sound is sweet.  Sweet, dependable, but unexciting.  Even though this is an even-numbered symphony – not that I am inclined to classify Beethoven’s symphonies that way – it doesn’t mean it is dull, slow, dragging, or gray.  Indeed the Playbill uses terms like fortissimo and pianissimo to describe the music but, alas, it didn’t come through this way.  The 32 minute work has four movements: Adagio molto – Allegro con brio, Larghetto, Scherzo: Allegro, and Allegro molto.

After a short intermission, we came to the main event.  It didn’t disappoint.

I still remember walking in Victoria Park, Hong Kong, listening to the local classical station, when the announcement came on that the year’s Van Cliburn competition had two gold medalists, and that one of them was a blind pianist.  I tend not to be very “up” with this sort of things, but this somehow gets stuck in my mind.

It is interesting that it is more than 4 years later that we have an opportunity to hear Tsujii.  And the balcony of Carnegie Hall is filled with Asians (perhaps 80%, and I venture to guess most are Japanese.)  At intermission I also noticed some lady wearing a formal Japanese gown.  I guess that is to be expected.  Many Chinese show up at Lang Lang recitals, for instance.

Tsujii was captivating from the very start.  It is easy to enjoy the Emperor Concerto, more so when it is played well, and even more so when the soloist is someone who overcame great odds to get to this level of virtuosity.

For this piece the balance between the soloist and the orchestra was just right, and they put in a performance with a wide dynamic and emotional range.  The three movements are Allegro, Adagio un poco mosso – Rondo: Allegro.

One can’t help but wonder how someone born blind can become a world-class performer.  I am sure there are many stories about him that I can read up.  I did notice he calibrated where he was physically by touching the right side of the keyboard.  In some sense working with Orpheus, an orchestra without a conductor, works well.

The lady sitting in front of me liked to lean forward and thus blocked my view of the pianist.  I can thus confidently say that no allowance was needed for his blindness.  That he could overcome it is simply inspirational.

He played two encore pieces, one of them with the orchestra.  They are both familiar tunes but I don’t remember their titles; guessing wrong would be too embarrassing.

It started to snow when we left our house.  We found off-street parking that cost us $13.50, and had dinner at Szechuan Gourmet on 56^th.  The return trip also took less than an hour.