October 18
The following article, published by Australia's Limelight (Music, Arts & Culture) Magazine was accessed at https://limelight-arts.com.au/live-reviews/ (https://limelight-arts.com.au/reviews/rachmaninovs-piano-nobuyuki-tsujii-queensland-symphony-orchestra/ )
It is a review of a concert by Australia's Queensland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Eudardo Strasser, with Nobuyuki Tsujii as soloist (see Nobuyuki Tsujii in Australia 2024 -- as it happens).
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Rachmaninov’s Piano (Nobuyuki Tsujii & Queensland Symphony Orchestra)
Nobuyuki Tsujii delivered a thrilling performance on the Brisbane leg of his Australian tour; his technique flawless, his note accuracy second to none.
It’s possible Sergei Prokofiev wrote his Symphony No. 7 to appease Russia’s cultural police. They had banned his Symphony No. 6, for its “decadent formalism” and its “threat to the Soviet people”.
The 7th, on the other hand, has been described as “childlike”; certainly there is plenty of music for dance and play. (Well, after all, it was commissioned by the Children’s Division of State Radio.) Indeed, it could be described as programmatic, or even filmic, such are the myriad moods, all the way down to melancholy.
It even ends on a note of melancholy, which the conductor for the premiere performance in 1952 suggested Prokofiev re-write to make it more upbeat. He even dangled the carrot of a possible Stalin prize of 100,000 rebels. Prokofiev did not win it and asked his friend Mstislav Rostropovich to “take care that this new ending never exists after me”. Today’s performance honoured that request.
Conductor, Eduardo Strausser, led a very large QSO on a merry romp through Prokofiev’s interesting, and mostly pleasant light-hearted 4-movement work.
In particular, the second movement is to the waltz time signature, but swirling around the ballroom music it ain’t. It might have been at the very start, but Strausser quickly put the pedal to the metal, taking the tempo to quite a clip. The QSO relished in its playfulness, totally captivating the audience as it rollicked along.
The third was charming in its pensiveness, with Strausser shaping the sound carefully with his hand gestures, the orchestra responding superbly, while the fourth was lively, colourful, and cheeky, building into a big, big sound, before dying away to a single, quiet note at the end.
Dying away to melancholy certainly does not apply to Rachmaninov’s Concerto No. 3 in D minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 50.
And the QSO was no less in size as Strausser and Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii mounted the stage for a concert performance that must surely stand as one of the most thrilling, and incredibly thoughtful, ever given. Anywhere.
“Nobu”, as his bio notes reference him, was born blind, but, when he plays the piano, his disability becomes a profound ability. When Strausser brought a tentative Nobu across the stage and put his hand on the piano casing, he instantly became wholly able in mind, body and spirit.
His technique is flawless, and his note accuracy is second to none – literally. But these qualities fade into insignificance when one realises that Nobu’s blindness gives him a power that few others have.
In his blindness Nobu has a unique ability to see into the very soul of the music he is playing. He is able to get right into the rhythm of the composer’s heart, and the colours and thoughts in the composer’s mind.
In doing so, he delivers a performance that is as inspiring as it is inspired, and one that comes truly alive. It is a performance to be treasured.
The Rach 3 is considered one of the most challenging pieces ever written. Some musicians fear it. Even its dedicatee, Joseph Hofmann, refused to play it in public.
But Nobu, with his special abilities, brought with him a new reading of the work. Every nuance of expression, technique, tempi, dynamics, lyricism was given the most thoughtful care. His communication with the conductor and orchestra was impeccable. And the audience was breathless for the entire 40 minutes.
What a privilege to hear this artist play. Nobu is on his Australian tour, with performances in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart. Drop everything. Go and experience his brilliant artistry.
Nobuyuki Tsujii performs a Piano Recital at the Concert Hall, QPAC on 21 October.
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