Three weekends. Three internationally known pianists. A trio of top keyboard soloists will join the Colorado Symphony Orchestra for nearly consecutive sets of concerts this month.
“They are three very different pianists with totally different backgrounds and with utterly distinct artistic and pianistic profiles,” said music director Jeffrey Kahane, who is one of the three.
He agreed in March to step in for Horacio Gutierrez, who was forced to postpone his appearance for unspecified reasons. Here is a look at each of the artists in their own words:
Jeffrey Kahane
Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. May 10
Age: 52 Hometown: Los Angeles
Moment he knew the piano would be his career: “I was very passionate about playing the piano from the time I was a small child. But, then, I had a detour in my early teens, when I took up a whole bunch of different instruments and played in bands. I never stopped pursuing the piano seriously, but when I was 14, I was given the opportunity to study with a very great pianist in Los Angeles. And he was the first one who really made me realize what it would take if I wanted to be serious about becoming a concert pianist.”
Recent project he is excited about — April 26 concert in New York: “There’s always a little edge stepping out on to the stage to play a solo recital in New York. That’s just the way it is. One is very conscious of the fact that the audiences in New York hear basically everything all the time. But I felt really good. I had a beautiful piano and a program that I have played quite a bit and feel good about as a statement.”
Challenge of playing the piano: “Playing piano is fundamentally about illusion, by which I mean we are trained to do everything in our power to make people forget we are playing a percussion instrument. It is, strictly speaking, a member of the percussion family — it uses hammers, and the strings are struck. And once the hammer strikes the strings, there’s essentially nothing you can do to affect the sound except hold the pedal down or flutter the pedal. The illusion is that we’re actually making the instrument sing, and it’s an extraordinarily complex, difficult skill to learn.”
Thoughts on the concerto: “I conducted it from the keyboard in Denver during my first season, and it’s a piece I’ve done many times over the years. Both the ‘Rhapsody (In Blue)’ and the concerto have been a central part of my repertory.”
Thoughts on his fellow pianists: “They’re kind of titanic in terms of their technical command of the instrument. They’re both phenomenal master pianists in terms of their ability to play things of absolutely any degree of difficulty. But they are very different. It doesn’t diminish Jean-Yves to say that he is a quintessentially French pianist. His playing of Saint-Saëns, Ravel and Debussy, and also Liszt and Gershwin, is without peer. It’s a very clearly distinct kind of style. Garrick, on the other hand, is in so many ways a kind of musical polyglot.”
Jean-Yves Thibaudet
Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major 7:30 p.m. May 15 and 16 and 2:30 p.m. May 17
Age: 47 Hometown: Lyon, France
Moment he knew the piano would be his career: “I always wanted it since I was 5 years old. When I started, I already knew it was going to be. At that age, you don’t realize what it means and how difficult it is going to be. You just think it is going to happen.”
Upcoming project he is excited about — A Gershwin album: “I’ve been playing Gershwin since I was a kid, basically. It really is part of my life and language. So, I really wanted for many years to do a recording, but it has been very difficult to find the right project, the right timing. Finally, we all came to an agreement that this would be an exciting project and we’re going to do it in November in Baltimore with Marin Alsop.”
Challenge of playing the piano: “You’re playing with 10 fingers, and each finger can play a note and sometimes two. So, at some point, you can play up to 12 or 14 notes at one time versus the violin only playing one. We have a lot of notes. We have a lot material. It’s a very complex, it’s a very rich, rich instrument. I’m always saying that playing the piano feels like I have an entire orchestra at my fingers.”
Thoughts on the concerto: “It is the first concerto I ever played in my life. I was 11 years old. I played it in Paris. It was my first orchestra performance. It was my choice. So, it is a kind of a special piece for me.”
Thoughts on his fellow pianists: “Jeffrey (Kahane), I’ve known for God knows how many years. He is an old friend. Garrick, I don’t know as well as Jeffrey, but I have incredible admiration for him, and I actually ran into him not so long ago, and I was able to catch one of his concerts at Tanglewood. Between pianists, you don’t have any of that diva thing that you hear about with sopranos.”
Garrick Ohlsson
Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat 7:30 p.m. May 29 and 30 and 2:30 p.m. May 31
Age: 61 Hometown: White Plains, N.Y.
Moment he knew the piano would be his career: “The most serious moment in my life was when I was 16, and I went to hear a recital of (Emil) Gilels at Carnegie Hall. I had heard a lot of great pianists, but this time I was sitting onstage very near him. And I suddenly realized how good I wasn’t. Just every aspect of piano playing and musical art — I realized I’m just a little kid. I remember I had a new seriousness about my own work after that.”
Recent project he is excited about: “The recording I would like to mention is not new, but it is slightly news, because my complete works of Chopin, which I recorded for Arabesque, have been reissued on the Hyperion label. That is a hefty 16-CD set. It is out since November or December last year.”
Challenge of playing the piano: “The old adage (is) that it’s hard to make a piano sing, because all you have in a piano is the beginning of a note and the sustaining of a note. And it doesn’t sustain. It makes a diminuendo, no matter what you’re doing. So, all the crescendos, all the singing sound, all the illusion of massed instruments — that’s all an illusion, and that’s what we have to control. The hardest thing, like every piano teacher has ever said, is to make the instrument sing rather than just be an instrument of percussive beginnings of notes.”
Thoughts on the concerto: “I’ve played it lots and lots in my life — happily — because it’s such a monumental, great piece. It’s one of the most popular ones.”
Thoughts on his fellow pianists: “I have to confess that I have never heard him (Thibaudet) live in a concert. I heard a bit of a rehearsal once, and I’ve met him, but I can’t say I know him well. I don’t often get a chance to go hear other pianists, but I’m certainly familiar with Jeff’s work ever since he won the Rubinstein Prize.”
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
Colorado Symphony
Classical music. Boettcher Concert Hall, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets. The symphony is performing with three internationally recognized piano soloists in May. 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. May 10, Jeffrey Kahane, pianist, Larry Rachleff, conductor; 7:30 p.m. May 15 and 16 and 2:30 p.m. May 17, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, pianist, James Gaffigan, conductor; and 7:30 p.m. May 29 and 30 and 2:30 p.m. May 31, Garrick Ohlsson, pianist, and Kahane, conductor. $15-$73. 303-623-7876 or
