Radu Lupu has always been sparing with his concerts, and his appearance with the Hallé, in Bartok's Third Piano Concerto, was his first in Leeds since 1985.
It was worth the wait. Lupu is a genius who takes us to the core of a composer's spirit.
He shapes a phrase without fuss, his sense of rhythm and harmony is perfect yet never over-emphasised, his musical personality as an ensemble player evident
through the constant turning of his head to make eye contact with the players around him.
Self-effacing and with the look and aura of a mystic Orthodox priest, he became the focus to which conductor Cristian Mandeal and the Hallé responded magnificently.
In this Concerto of strong orient-inspired melodies coupled to harmonies that fulfil the promise of hundreds of years of both eastern and western development, this interaction was deeply potent.
Curiously, the Concerto's final rollicking theme has an accidental affinity with a jaunty tune in Smetana's Sarka, which opened the concert. In Bartok it is perfect, in the Smetana slightly gauche, and Mandeal dealt with it by playing it down.
The First Symphony of Brahms, an early influence on Bartok, can also be a little gauche compared to his later output, and the performance had edgy restlessness at the expense of forward motion, an effect enhanced by some raw horn tone and a wind group slightly unbalanced by a dominant clarinet.
Leeds Town Hall
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