To hear Stephen Kovacevich or Martha Argerich play in recital is a privilege not to be taken lightly. When these two formidable musicians come together, as they did for this 75th birthday concert for Kovacevich, the result can only be a very special event.
For the first half, they offered a pair of two-piano works. In Debussy’s En Blanc et Noir, coloured in part by the horrors of war, they did justice to his darker reflections and whirling exuberance. In Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances, Kovacevich persuaded Argerich to adopt certain tempi favoured by the composer, including a decidedly measured first movement and a fleet waltz. That, and their fiery intensity and exhilarating virtuosity, produced an altogether exceptional performance.
Kovacevich returned to more familiar territory with Schubert’s B flat Piano Sonata, D960. Any slight compromise in technical control is easily offset by the searching quality of his pianism. Perhaps he was distracted by an apparently malfunctioning pedal, but this was a reading of undoubtedly poetic insights and occasional sublimity rather than sustained revelation.
By way of an encore, the violinist Alina Ibragimova emerged from the audience to play Rachmaninov’s Vocalise with Kovacevich as a birthday present. The stage management had the not inappropriate ad hoc feel of a birthday party, but what mattered was the performance, of exquisite subtlety and soaring lyricism.
Wigmore Hall
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