Toradze's Studio Wows with Rachmaninov
L to R: Nikita Abrosimov, Sangwon Kim, Constella founder/artistic director Tatiana Berman, Alexander Toradze, Edisher Savitski, Ketevan Badridze, Vakhtang Kodanashvili.
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Those who attended Sunday evening’s Constella Festival concert in Corbett Theater at the Erich Kunzel Center for Arts and Education may have wondered why famed pianist Alexander Toradze didn’t perform after providing two of the hands in Rachmaninov’s Romance in A Major for Piano Six Hands. (The other four belonged to Ketevan Badridze and Sangwon Kim.)
The answer played itself out during the next two hours, as five members of the Alexander Toradze Piano Studio (students and former students of the Georgian pianist, who tour and perform together) presented an entire concert of Rachmaninov. Mind you, no one was complaining, for it was a phenomenal demonstration of pianistic accomplishment. It was also a tribute to Cincinnati’s World Piano Competition, for three of the five pianists are former WPC prize-winners. (World Piano Competition founder Gloria Ackerman was proudly in attendance.)
L to R: Nikita Abrosimov, World Piano Competition founder Gloria Ackerman, Ketevan Badridze, Vakhtang Kodanashvili
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Joining WPC gold medalists Nikita Abrosimov (2011) and Sangwon Kim (2010) and WPC silver medalist Badridze (2000) were Vakhtang Kodanashvili and Edisher Savitski. Each pianist brought something special to the program, which flew by, so riveting was their music-making.
From six hands, the count went to four in the Scherzo, Valse and "Slava" from Rachmaninov’s Six Morceaux, Op.11. Kodanashvili and Savitski (both Georgians) filled them with spirit, never more so than in “Slava,” the great Russian folk tune, which they gave towering expression.
Korean native Sangwon Kim seemed to channel the music in Rachmaninov’s Sonata in B-flat Minor, so intense was her concentration. She has a beautiful touch, and hearing her was like being washed in variegated colors.
Savitski closed the first half with six of Rachmaninov’s Etudes-Tableaux (Nos. 1-5 and 8). His playing was extremely idiomatic over a wide dynamic range. Each Etude cast its own spell, the last one (in C-sharp Minor) growing stormy after a soft beginning.
(Having undergone a considerable workout, the Steinway grand piano on the Corbett Theater stage was given a tuning at intermission.)
Badridze (Toradze’s assistant at the University of Indiana South Bend, also from Georgia) performed five excerpts from Rachmaninov’s Thirteen Preludes, Op. 32. These small gems were multi-faceted in her hands, resolute and outgoing in No. 1, contemplative in No. 5, dreamy in No. 12.
Kodanashvili offered more Etudes-Tableaux, Nos. 2, 6 and 5, where he showed himself to the grand romantic manner born, laying it on with flair as well as finesse (and indicating that the Steinway would soon need another tuning).
It was Russian born Abrosimov’s turn to set the audience on its ear with Rachmaninov’s “Variations on a Theme of Corelli,” which closed the recital. It was a magnificent performance, indicative of future greatness, as each of the 20 variations gave way to the next. It was a wonderful “summing up” of Rachmaninov, too, who did not tire, but provided greater insight into his compositional artistry and his legacy to the piano.
There was a reception afterward in the “Curve” at the Kunzel Center, with an exhibition by artists of 5th Street Gallery. There was wood and bronze sculpture by John Leon (much of it with a music theme), also paintings, jewelry and glass. Marcia Alscher’s “A Little Light Music” – candelabra with flutes, piccolos and recorders instead of candles -- was eye-catching.
"A Little Light Music" by Marcia Alscher
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