Having a long church programme on Sunday and taking lunch after caused me to miss the Nielsen Symphony No 2 (the 1st of 2 items of the concert on 7 December 2008). Joining the concert after the interval, I was glad I did not miss Marc-Andre Hamelin's debut performance of the Brahms Second Piano Concerto. His massive CD discography of unusual and very difficult piano repertoire for Hyperion is already daunting enough. So, indeed it was a great treat to hear him in the better of the two Brahms piano concerto - the No 2 in B flat major.
Well, suffice to say that Hamelin did not disappoint his audience with his strong and passionate performance of the Brahms. Despite his superlative technique, there were some finger-slips in the concerto but this did not matter as the MPO under the excellent Osmo Vanska aided him in a magnificent and taut account of this romantic score. Of particular delight were the lighter than usual effects in the Scherzo and the last movement - often played in a heavier and more Teutonic manner - but done just right with the sufficient amount of "lift".
We should invite both artists back and pair them in slightly more obscure and diverse repertoire like the Busoni and/or the Shostakovich Piano Concertos. Now that would be an appealing thought indeed!
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