Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov never fails to impress, and it was terrific to hear him again in the excellent acoustic of the Perth Concert Hall for this dramatic, refined reading of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 3.
Behzod Abduraimov performs with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in its Beethoven & Prokofiev concert, 2022. Photo © Linda Dunjey
That’s not to say visiting conductor Otto Tausk’s leading West Australian Symphony Orchestra through Mozart’s overture to The Abduction of the Seraglio and Prokofiev’s Symphony No 5 wasn’t equally thrilling. Indeed, this classic overture-concerto-symphony program was remarkable for the same exciting sense of unity and contrast that characterises each of the three works separately.
Mozart’s overture to his famous rescue singspiel always makes for a rousing curtain-raiser, and on this occasion WASO and Tausk brought out the interplay between the crashing alla turca elements and a not-too-serious classical poise with a real sense of fun.
This whiff of fantasy was however quickly supplanted by Beethoven’s muscular abstractions when Abduraimov joined WASO and Tausk on stage.
From an expansive Allegro con brio replete with a sparkling, sonorous cadenza, through a Chopinesque reading of the Largo to...
Excellent review. Linking the Prokofiev back to the previous Britten concert was a great connection. I guess by 1945 just about everyone in Europe was yearning for a more peacefull life. This work highlighted the excellent WASO brass, percussion artists.