Wolfgang Rihm: Spiegel und Fluss.  Postlude and Prelude for Orchestra
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto no. 1, b-flat minor; op. 23
Bela Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra

Christoph Eschenbach
Lang Lang, piano
NDR Sinfonieorchester
Musikhalle Hamburg,  April 22, 2002

Wolfgang Rihm's work was premiered on January 2, 2000 by the same forces as
tonight, together with six other world premieres.  Now it made its return
to Hamburg, after just two years.

It serves as an excellent concert-opener, due to its prelude character.
Written on the prospect of a new millennium, it is meant as postlude to
the old and prelude to the new millennium.  As often with Wolfgang Rihm,
it's a rather dark and slow affair.  If this work is to predict the next
millennium, we will have to face many unpleasant things.  Fortunately,
at the very end things lighten up.  It begins with a very complex, albeit
slow, rhythm on the woodblock, which is returning throughout the piece and
will ultimately end it.  This may remind the listener of the time passing,
but the time of this music isn't as regular as the one of physics.  Spiegel
und Fluss reminds me in its dark colors and slow motion of Sibelius' world.
The work seems to be made of chorale fragments.  While it is very effective
as such, it could do with a little more impetus and doesn't quite have
enough meat for it's twenty minutes.  There is an animated and very
aggressive middle part, but that does not provide enough pulse to sustain
the music.  Near the end, two off-stage trumpets have yet another chorale
together with an on-stage flute.  This is a truly wonderful effect and adds
much to the light that is lead in at the end.  The performance was if
anything better than the premiere.

After music of the 21st century, music from the 19th century followed.
Tchaikovsky's oh-so famous first piano concerto.  Can this young Chinese
pianist add anything significant to this overplayed work? The answer
is nothing but YES!  His technique is stunning, the audience was very
obviously flabbergasted by his bravura.  He played the descending octaves
that more than once demanded by Tchaikovsky at a neckbreaking speed, yet
never lost control.  However, what made this performance special was not
the technical command he possess, but his ability to relax for lyrical
music.  Then the tone changed and he played, seemingly lost in dreams,
wonderfully soft.  The tempi throughout tended to be extreme, the first
movement at a relatively high basic tempo, but with a healthy dose of
rubato.  The second movement's slow parts were rather adagio than
andantino, but the prestissimo was nothing short of, well, prestissimo.
The finale even topped that, as it whizzed by in clearly less than seven
minutes.  All the way through the concerto, Chistoph Eschenbach focused
very much on Lang Lang, if he didn't look at him he obviously had "an
ear on him".  Thus the orchestra proved to be an excellent ensemble of
accompanists.  During the less furious passage, the interplay was chamber
music-like.  Especially the winds blended superbly with the piano's tone.
The piano wasn't always in the foreground, in fact there were many passages
where Lang Lang accompanied the orchestra.  This performance managed to
unite Mozartean spirit with Tchaikovskian pathos.  Truly magnificent.

After the interval, the concert concluded with music from the 20th century:
Bartok's concerto for orchestra.  Here the marvelous orchestra could show
how good they really are.  And boy, they are good.  From the perfectly
clear and soft opening to the furious closing bars, everything was in
place.  Probably the most impressive music of the evening was the Elegy.
Eschenbach formed climaxes of terrifying grandeur and quiet, haunting
passages.  The fourth movement was truly funny, the orchestra seemed to
laugh.  The finale was again extremely fast and clocked in at well below
ten minutes.

The intonation was always flawless, both of the orchestra and of the
pianist.  Lang Lang played Brahms' Romanze op. 118 no. 5 as encore.
A daring choice, but showed yet again that he is much more than a wonder
of technique.  It was perfectly tender and musical.  An appropriate, if
unconventional encore.

Tremendous applause both for him, Eschenbach and the orchestra.

Jan