The Colorado Symphony enjoys the good fortune of having a music director who is not only a very fine conductor but also a world-class piano soloist – Jeffrey Kahane.
Listeners had an opportunity to hear him in the latter capacity Friday evening in Boettcher Concert Hall, as he presented two of Ludwig van Beethoven’s celebrated late works.
Put simply, it was a towering performance in every respect – a high point of Denver’s 2006-07 music season.
Kahane has long been known for combining prodigious technique with intelligence and sophistication in his playing. But he was in especially good form Friday, appearing relaxed and very much in the moment.
He opened with the Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, embracing but not crowding the music, allowing it to breathe and infusing it with a sense of joyfulness and immediacy.
Kahane brought a light, almost dreamy approach to the first movement, shot through the counterpoint of the second movement with a propulsive burst and effectively tackled the theme and variations of the third movement.
The evening’s centerpiece, though, came in the second half – a rare performance of the Variations (33) on a Waltz by Diabelli in C major, Op. 120, “Diabelli Variations,” that was nothing short of a tour de force.
Kahane displayed extraordinary command as he dashed off this highly demanding, unabashedly showy music with style, panache and seeming ease.
Although the work is a unified, interconnected whole, the variations are tiny, individual worlds that can be variously bold, delicate or playful. Some go by in a flash, while others are more involved and take time to develop.
Highlights? Take your pick. The fluttery, lightning-fast passage work in No. 11? The loud-and-soft call and response in No. 13? The virtuosic complexity of rhythms in No. 16? The slow, lingering chords in No. 20? The triple fugue in No. 32?
Kahane deftly gave voice to the distinctive character of each. There was no sense of repetition, no blurring of one into the next.
After a much-deserved standing ovation, he performed one of Felix Mendelssohn’s “Songs Without Words” as an encore.
The symphony’s Beethoven Festival concludes at 2:30 p.m. today with a performance of the Ninth Symphony.
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
