The first concert in Murray Perahia’s Beethoven cycle with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, back in November, set the bar for the remainder in the series ferociously high. Yet the second instalment – weighted towards Beethoven’s middle period – brought new opportunities for this classiest of double acts.
The Coriolan Overture energetically showcased the demands of the mature composer. Led by Tomo Keller, the strings tore into its opening gestures. Bow hairs were broken at the back of the first violins; timpani strokes sounded like gunshots; the ensemble was as tight as a coiled spring.
The stately opening of the early Concerto No 2 in B flat major was an ideal foil to all that high Romantic angst. There was supremely tasteful playing from Perahia and the ASMF alike, with gleaming filigree passagework from the pianist, who was always in gracious dialogue with the orchestra. But there was also a magical moment in the slow movement, when Perahia briefly pedalled to suspend notes, bell-like, in a new and ethereal soundworld. The audience fell suddenly, entirely still.
In the Concerto No 4 in G major the dialogue between pianist and orchestra became full symbiosis. Perahia’s scalic cascades – almost impossibly even – rippled out across the strings; beguiling oboe and bassoon solos were entangled in the pianist’s melodic contours. In the slow movement, Perahia’s cool delicacy was matched by spare, almost vibrato-less strings. Driven from start to finish, the closing rondo was illuminated by minute, transformative details, standing out in an exceptional concert.
