Ivan Moravec reviews 2002

Ivan Moravec... confirmed his reputation as one of the most thoughtful and masterly pianists around...Moravec fully appreciated Debussy’s use of Baroque ornamentation but not always the composer’s consciousness, which needs more performer largesse. Due solemnity was provided for the ’Sarabande’ and Moravec’s discretion allowed the concluding ’Toccata’ to ripple effectively without being swamped in end-in-itself virtuosity.

Moravec began his recital with an eloquently played Kinderszenen, Schumann’s aphorisms of innocence. The pianist’s crystalline textures and sotto voce tone artlessly combined. Later numbers became intriguingly elusive, a quality not so apparent in Chopin’s Ballade, which nevertheless enjoyed Moravec’s lucid exposition, sensitive touch and articulate virtuosity. The Brahms group included a very moving B flat minor Intermezzo and a truculent G minor Rhapsody.

Moravec's recording of ['Kinderszenen']... provides much to admire... Live, one is more aware of the weight of Moravec's experience... control was all, the technique utterly subservient to the musical conception... .

Moravec's Chopin was hardly less impressive. The F minor 'Fantaisie' is a tough piece to bring off, but Moravec penetrated to the heart of the music...

A selection of four of Brahms' piano pieces ... proved a well-contrasted group: the A major Intermezzo, Op. 118 No. 2 was perhaps more volatile than is often the case, but this only shed new light on it. The Capriccio in B minor, Op.76 No. 2 was playful; the B flat minor Intermezzo Op. 117 No. 2 contained some chording of outstanding beauty; and the G minor Rhapsody, Op. 79 No. 2 was strong and muscular. A thread of warmth and richness ran through all these performances.

Debussy's 'Pour le Piano' made an ideal contrast. Moravec declined to descend into mere washes of sound, instead articulating clearly and displaying the pedal technique of a master...

... a concert that should have been witnessed by every piano teacher and student in the Chicago area.

Moravec began with Schumann's "Kinderszenen," playing these domestic vignettes with just the right combination of childlike simplicity and mature sophistication. In them the pianist revealed a master portraitist's ability to bring a subject to life with only a few well-chosen brushstrokes... his sound had a transparency that yielded all manner of inner detail.

...Many a singer would envy the liquid ease of his rubato in the ballade, which kept the singing line in proper relief, unfolding with the naturalness of breathing...which is not to say this most unflashy of pianists couldn't produce speed and volume where required; the Toccata from Debussy's "Pour le Piano" was a stunning example of both.

I'm cheating: I wasn't there, but I did hear a tape of one of the performances. Sadly, nobody in Dallas sent in a report (I'm surprised: Dallas had such a lively music community when I lived there), so I penned one myself:

The recorded sound was top-notch, and it was clear that Moravec, the Dallas Symphony, and the Meyerson Center audience had a rollicking good time.

As David Hurwitz has noted, the perception of speed in piano playing is enhanced by accuracy. This effect was particularly evident in Moravec's breathtaking romp through the virtuoso outer movements. They are sensual and jazzy, with echoes of Gershwin (a Parisian in Harlem, maybe).

But Moravec's reading of the slow middle movement was a revelation to me. In the performances I'd heard before, the words "graceful" and "elegant" come to mind here. What Moravec plays is music of the greatest nobility and tenderness, stunning in its emotional impact. I now realize what a masterpiece this concerto is.

In a typical understatement, Moravec told me that there were some "tricky" parts about this performance. I doubt he was referring to his part, which he has obviously long since conquered. More likely he meant the many precise entrances he and the orchestra must make together. In that regard, the tight ensemble playing here may reflect something else Moravec mentioned: he very much enjoyed working with this conductor, Claus Peter Flor. Of course, CD collectors know that Moravec's association with the Dallas Symphony goes back a number of years and included a couple of great recordings with the late Eduardo Mata.

If what Dallas heard in October was just a warmup, the rest of us are in for a treat soon: Moravec will record this piece for Supraphon in 2003.

Moravec was able to uncover ever greater nuance and refinement in the most apparently straightforward writing. The scales and other passagework in the first movement sounded like pearls of melody as they spun out under his hands, and the finale moved along with wondrous insouciance.

The natural elegance of his playing is ideally suited to the Mozart Concerto in A major, K.488. His legendary sound was not merely generically beautiful, but revelatory. Mozart as supreme colorist was present in Moravec’s playing throughout...

Moravec maximized the elasticity of the Adagio without breaking the line. While today’s modern piano is perhaps more diffuse in sound and sings with some difficulty, Moravec’s tone may well have been close to what Mozart had in mind...

Perfectly proportioned and unforced, Moravec’s sense of rubato was uncanny... Rather than romanticized, Moravec’s playing was essentially operatic.

I was fortunate enough to attend the matinee concert of the San Francisco Symphony on Thursday, October 31. Mr. Moravec performed the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23. After years of seeking out (and revering) his recordings, this was my first time to see him perform in-person. I was amazed that the perfection of his recordings could be reproduced in a live setting. I was so absorbed at times by his perfect tone and phrasing that I found myself holding my breath...Mr. Moravec received a rousing ovation. Due to my good fortune (my wife works for the Symphony!), I was able to locate him during intermission and shake his hand. I only wish I could attend the evening concerts to follow.

Since his Munich recital on May 8th, 2002, Mr Moravec has given two more - both of which I attended. 1) On July 5th in the Stadthalle, Muelheim, as part of the wide-ranging "Klavier Festival Ruhr" - a piano festival in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia lasting more than a month and bringing together more than 30 of the world's finest pianists.

Both concerts were full (in Mülheim around 1,500 listeners, in the far more beautiful but much smaller Schloss Morsbroich around 200). This attendance and the rapturous public and critical reception show that Mr Moravec's time in Germany has come (albeit belatedly) at last.

Ivan Moravec s'installe au piano avec l'air tranquille de l'artisan à son établi. Pose ses doigts courts et ronds sur le clavier, et là, c'est le choc. Il coule de cet être apparemment si limpide et clair des sonorités chargées d'alluvions, d'anciennes gravités et des souvenirs de blessures encore vives, le tout dans l'enivrement d'un piano tout empreint de plénitude nostalgique.

...Les Mazurkas de Chopin y prennent une densité qui ne doit presque plus rien à la danse : le son est plein d'une vie ardente et charnelle, mais sans extase, la polyphonie se brasse dans une saveur empoignée au plein des touches, mais sans rudesse, avec une sorte de maestria olympienne. Ivan Moravec chante par moments, sourcils arqués, bouche fermée, et ce chant est un râle. Comme pour souligner combien la Sonate no 2 op. 35 se meut dans des effets de création du monde et de combats titanesques...un Chopin de la genèse.

1A.M now. Ivan is ... delighted after tonight's performance. Ads all over town: 'Recitale exceptionelle'...Fontainebleau sold out! The concert was spectacular: many important French & Czech people there: a Czech festival...

...the hall had a lovely sound, if quite live, after it was filled with people. What I had not known, but experienced with great pleasure, was that following a performance, when the audience is especially happy, they burst into a stadium like rhythmic applause. Where this practice started I have no idea, but it is quite astonishing to an American hearing it for the first time.

... L’homme pratique autant le Chopin à fleur de peau que celui, plus risqué mais parfois plus goûteux, des travaux d’Hercule ! Le souvenir de Samson François dans la Quatrième Ballade est encore si prégnant, que la comparaison ne peut s’esquiver aisément. Même son projeté à foison, comme par gerbes ; mêmes accents de la Totentanz de Liszt (encore) ; même fusion du cérébral et du viril. Avec une palette (dynamique) de peintre torturé – des pianissimi à dresser les cheveux sur la tête –, le Tchèque prépare bien le terrain de sa pierre de touche, la Sonate « Funèbre »...

C’est parfois Atlas soulevant le monde qu’il nous fait entendre : toujours ce Chopin mâle, sans la connaissance duquel toute approche du plus grand des Polonais reste inaboutie ! Adieu boudoirs, douceurs et orgeat : que cette page est foisonnante…

Dann spielt Ivan Moravec schöner Klavier, als man es sich je erträumt hat und am Tag danach fragt man sich, ob man dies alles nur geträumt hat. Es war eine Lehrstunde in Sachen Hören. Wo sonst ist Klavierspiel in solch klanglicher Nuancierung, Sanglichkeit und derlei Formbewusstsein heute noch zu hören?

Handys, Digitaluhren und anderer piepsender Plunder sollten vor Konzertbeginn zu Staub zermalmt oder zumindest an schallsicheren Orten aufbewahrt werden: Diesmal passierte es in Janaceks Klaviersonate, aber Ivan Moravec ließ sich davon nicht aus der Ruhe bringen. Mit derselben marmornen Gelassenheit, mit der er unangenehmen technischen Aufgaben begegnete, ignorierte er den elektronischen Walkürenritt, der ihn im zweiten Satz überraschte. Sein kalkulierter, äußerst beherrschter Zugriff führte hier wie auch im Chopin-Teil zu ungewöhnlich umrissscharfen und klanglich "sauberen" Ergebnissen - so abgezirkelt und ernst, so "klassisch" hat man die Mazurken wohl zuletzt von Benedetti Michelangeli gehört. Das heißt aber auch, dass Moravec auf jegliche spontane Aktion verzichtete. Chopins f-moll-Ballade geriet unter diesen Umständen zwar ungemein wohlklingend und erlesen - mit sonoren Legatissimo- Oktaven in der Linken und aufregenden Farbwechseln - , aber im Großen und Ganzen doch etwas zu glatt, zu wenig exaltiert.

Besser bekam dieser zuchtvolle Klangästhetizismus schon der f- moll-Fantasie. Hier ließ sich Moravec alle nötige Zeit, um lange Phrasen in Ruhe auszuspielen, was nicht heißt, dass er etwa bei den gefürchteten Oktavstellen irgendwelche Zugeständnisse an Sicherheit machte. Am besten jedoch schienen Moravec' schwerelose Technik, sein maßvolles Rubato und sein unbestechlicher Geschmack in Debussys "Suite pour le piano" aufgehoben: federleicht, transparent und enorm präzise huschten die drei Sätze vorüber und sorgten für wahrhaft ergötzliche Minuten.

Ivan Moravec bringt das Klavier auf mirakulöse Weise zum Singen. Im großväterlichen Alter von 72 Jahren hat er in München sein Solodebüt gegeben.

With phrasing that was incredibly personal yet very natural, Moravec seemed to achieve a concordance with the composer that had an almost mystical dimension.

...caught Ivan's recent performance in Santa Barbara, and afterwards got into a heated discussion with some members of the party that had driven up from Los Angeles over the essence of his artistry.

I have just heard Ivan play in Saratoga Calif. He was magnificent... The whole program was wonderful, the Chopin Fantasie op. 49 and Debussy's Engulfed Cathedral, for me especially profound.

It was principally due to the site's thorough listing of Mr. Moravec's performance schedule that I was alerted to his recent appearance in Saratoga, CA last Friday evening. Although I have been listening (well, treasuring actually) Mr. Moravec's performances on CD for several years now, this was my first opportunity to hear him in person. The experience was everything I had hoped it would be ...