Lars Vogt first in series of piano recitals
By Gus Kairupan
JAKARTA (JP): If Lars Vogt's recital last Saturday at Erasmus Huis is anything to go by, the series of four piano recitals by German pianists, of which he was the first, promises to be a rare treat for lovers of classical piano.
Only 24 years old, Vogt is still a student at the Hanover Music Academy under Professor Kaemmerling, but has already won many awards and performed with quite a number of orchestras, such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra, among others.
His recital at Erasmus Huis did not take place before a full crowd, but although the audience was small, it was a most appreciative one that didn't intend to let Vogt go until he had given two encores. Perhaps he would have given more if the applause had been insistent enough after the very beautiful rendition of a Schumann piece that I have never heard before.
"It's very rarely played," Vogt said after the recital.
Schumann wasn't on the listed program, but Haydn, Schubert and Brahms were. The latter especially was the work I was looking forward to because Brahms very rarely gets a hearing in this city. The pieces usually performed are his shorter gems, but Vogt is the first one to present the Brahms' monumental Sonata in F- Minor Op. 5, and at the same time gave the answer as to why the works (especially the large ones) of this late romantic master do not often feature in piano recitals: the physical, mental and intellectual demands are as gigantic as those works.
Lars Vogt is the kind of pianist who makes you listen, what's more he makes you want to listen. He does not "prepare" himself or the audience when he appears on stage, but sits down at the piano and starts at once; there are no moments of pondering over the first notes to be played and he doesn't wait for the last few people in the audience to be seated. One can't tell whether or not this is by design, but the result is an immediate quietness throughout the auditorium.
Evidence
His sound is marked by bigness and grand sonorities. This is an aspect that is excellent for some works but not quite suitable for others. Like the Sonata in G-Major Hob. XVI:40 by Joseph Haydn which could have been done with a lighter touch. It's a small work whose structure hasn't yet achieved the conventional three-movement (or four-movement) sonata form of later years and whose lay-out is reminiscent of the F-Minor Theme & Variations. Mind you, Vogt did not make a mess of the sonata, but the touches of subtle irony that mark much of Haydn's compositions drowned in a sea of expansive sounds and coloring. However, unfamiliarity with the instrument he played may have something to do with it. I heard that he did not have any tryouts on the piano before the recital.
Unfamiliar or not, the way he played the Haydn sonata, the big sounds he produced, offered a glimpse of how his interpretation of the Brahms sonata would be. Evidence of this was noticeable in the next item on the program -- Schubert's package of Moments Musicaux D. 780. These do require a big sound if only because they hail from a period which in musical terms can be described as the onset of the romantic period. This was the section of the program which revealed Vogt's considerable grasp of the poetry in Schubert's music. What Vogt also succeeded in revealing (and this does not always come through with many other pianists) was that Schubert was more of an Austrian composer and less (much less!) of a Viennese composer. It is Schubert, der Wanderer through the countryside. Not the Schubert of the cerebral works heard in Vienna's concert auditoriums, or even the waltzes and polkas that filled the dance halls along, say, the Ringstrasse. Anyway, Schubert already showed his penchant for the countryside not just in such cycles like Die Schoene Muellerin and Winterreise, but also in his impromptus and moments musicaux for piano solo which display a wealth of country sounds. Pianists don't always disclose this aspect of Schubert's music, but Vogt did, and did it masterfully too.
Then came Brahms' sonata, the piece in which Lars Vogt truly shone not only as a powerful artist but also as a highly poetic one. Brahms isn't just big sounds. He also composed exquisitely beautiful chorales and deeply moving melodies, and lieder which match those of Schubert and Schumann. The five-movement sonata has considerable programmatic content, but even without that the music speaks for itself. And this is what Lars Vogt did, not only with Brahms but also with Schubert and, in a way, even with Haydn.
Three more pianists are to follow in his wake, i.e. Heidrun Holtman on Oct. 10, Claudius Tanski on Nov. 11 and Rolf Plagge on Dec. 12. All of them will also appear at Erasmus Huis. Judging from Vogt's performance, the next ones will be events no one ought to miss.