Alexandre Kantorow plays Tchaikovsky with the Orchester de Paris

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Paris. Paris Philharmonic; Great Hall Pierre Boulez. 11-I-2023. Piotr Ilitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, op. 44. Alexander Kantorow, piano. Tribute to Philippe Aïche: Jean Sibelius (1865-1957): Valse triste, op. 44 #1. Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957): Violin Concerto in D major op.35; Romance (2nd movement), 2007 recording with Christoph Eschenbach and Philippe Aïche. Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990): West Side Story, Symphonic Dances No. 2, 3, 5 &; 9. Richard Strauss (1864-1949): Der Rosenkavalier, Waltz. Richard Wagner (1813-1883): Tristan und Isolde, Liebestod. Orchester de Paris, conductor: Jukka-Pekka Saraste

From a program planned for Alexandre Kantorow in the 2^e Concerto of Tchaikovsky before the 4^e Symphony of Shostakovich, theParis Orchestra modify the second part to make tribute to his first violin Philippe Aichewho died on October 20.

Already masterful this summer at La Roque d’Anthéron, Alexandre Kantorow takes it even further Concerto pour piano n°2 by Tchaikovsky at the Philharmonie de Paris at the beginning of the year. Less in line with the wiser view of Jukka-Pekka Saraste than he was six months earlier with the ardor of Aziz Shokhakimov, the French pianist rushes back into the score with a perfectly adapted percussive game, by which he ignites theCheerful brilliant upon entering.

Very interesting in the orchestral transition at the third of the movement, Saraste applies with theParis Orchestra bushy sounds more in line with Northern Europe than the Russian style, without distorting the subject, in addition to using most of the elements of theParis Orchestra, starting with its winds. However, the cadenza remains the greatest moment of the interpretation, especially since for this evening in homage to Philippe Aichewe obviously regret the absence of the former first violin in the middle movement, theGoing not too much still finding too little weight under Eiichi Chijiwa’s violin. And this despite the vibrato deployed to respond in trio to the splendid cello of Éric Picard, then to the exceptional piano of Kantorow. The main theme of the second movement magnified, the pianist can once once more unleash all his power in theCheerful with fire, an amplitude of play equal to the speed and extreme agility of fingering to exalt the most complicated arpeggios. Never stingy with encores, Kantorow thanks the public with two pieces, the first of which seems to be new to his repertoire, especially as he still uses the score. Already with astonishing maturity, he interprets theIntermezzo in A major op. 118/2 of Brahms, before returning for a songs of Mompou, played without the Danza planned to stick to it.

In the second part of the evening, the Symphony No. 4 by Shostakovich initially scheduled is canceled – it will be given the next day – in order to pay a marked tribute to the one who was first violin of the Orchester de Paris for more than thirty years, five years following arriving in the formation, in 1985. year following retirement de Roland Daugareil en 2021, Philippe Aïche would die last October from a brain tumor he had been battling for many months, leaving the concertmaster spot free for a suitor yet to be found. So, it is through a free program that his orchestra remembers the violinist, starting with a Sad Waltz by Sibelius superbly conducted by Saraste, this work having been played in Japan during the orchestra’s tour on the day of the announcement of Aïche’s death.

A speech by the former director of the Philharmonie Laurent Bayle then deeply moved the audience, completely silent to listen just following the 2007 audio recording of the Romance of Concerto by Korngold by Philippe Aïche under the direction of Christophe Eschenbach. Then Saraste, who remained discreetly seated on the side, gets up to perform four Symphonic Dances taken from West Side Story of Bernstein, chained to the False of Knight of the Rose of Richard Strauss. The love death taken from Tristan and Isolde de Wagner concludes the tribute with a bass clarinet and a sensitive clarinet, then a concerned orchestra until the last moments.

Photo credits: © ResMusica (Concert) & © OdP (Philippe Aïche)

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Paris. Paris Philharmonic; Great Hall Pierre Boulez. 11-I-2023. Piotr Ilitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, op. 44. Alexander Kantorow, piano. Tribute to Philippe Aïche: Jean Sibelius (1865-1957): Valse triste, op. 44 #1. Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957): Violin Concerto in D major op.35; Romance (2nd movement), 2007 recording with Christoph Eschenbach and Philippe Aïche. Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990): West Side Story, Symphonic Dances No. 2, 3, 5 &; 9. Richard Strauss (1864-1949): Der Rosenkavalier, Waltz. Richard Wagner (1813-1883): Tristan und Isolde, Liebestod. Orchester de Paris, conductor: Jukka-Pekka Saraste

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