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CONCERT REVIEW | Koerner Hall’s 500th Concert An Intimate Affair With Lisa Batiashvili and Paul Lewis

By Robin Roger on March 28, 2015

Lisa Batiashvili
Lisa Batiashvili

Violinist Lisa Batiashvili and Pianist Paul Lewis at Koerner Hall, Friday 27 March 27 2015.

I’m sure that most people who purchased tickets to last night’s concert at Koerner Hall, did so in order to see violinist Lisa Batiashvili and pianist Paul Lewis perform together, rather than to observe the 500th concert at Koerner Hall. This milestone certainly added to the sense of occasion, and the presence of these two luminaries befit the celebration of a venue that has proven to be such a transformative addition to the musical life of this city.

As Mervon Mehta reviewed some of the highlights of the last five years, covering a diverse range of kinds of music, the showcasing of over 1000 Canadian artists, and musicians from over 100 nations, including an impressive roster of world-class performers, it felt a bit like a movie-flashback of musical high points in the last half decade, rapidly replaying in my memory. Freud’s observation that “there is no time in the unconscious’, meaning that clock time holds no sway in our inner world, aptly describes the cumulative experience of attending concerts frequently enough that they become a sustained eternal immersion in sound, like an inner play list. Koerner Hall is such a fine venue and the concerts have been of such a high-caliber that it is not possible for the management to engage in hyperbole, and anyone who has spent much time there would have shared the feeling of enrichment and good fortune afforded by this review.

This does not mean, however, that waiting for the evening’s performers while two officials take up twenty minutes thanking patrons and board members is an enriching experience itself. For professionals who manage a venue dedicated to pleasing audiences to actually repeat each other and mostly express standard sentiments is a bit surprising.   The accomplishments of the boards, donors, designers, acousticians and programmers is undeniable and the chance to recognize this is welcome, but only to a point. It can be stated in the program and feels somewhat forced to be asked to applaud for them, (and to have them listed by name twice) and the opposite of the joyful clapping that results from a great concert. It creates the feeling that one has paid for a ticket in order to stroke the patrons without prior consent. We do owe a debt of gratitude to these people no question but their names are on the venue, in publication, and on the web sites. Adding an extra twenty minutes to the first part of the program without advance notice is also not trivial, it makes for a longer evening than many people plan.

Peter Simon’s observation that Koerner Hall was designed to allow a connection to be made between the performers and the audience by means of its beauty, scale and especially acoustics that allow the softest pianissimo to reach the furthest rows of the auditorium was finally born out when Batiashvili and Lewis were welcomed to the stage, and Lewis played the opening mellow and low chords of the Schubert violin sonata in A major, D 574.

Paul Lewis Photo: Josep Molina
Paul Lewis Photo: Josep Molina

Duets can be the epitome of musical intimacy, but the collaboration of violinist and pianist is a bit paradoxical because the violinist plays with her back to the pianist, almost completely eliminating the possibility eye contact. Being in the presence of an attuned couple, whether musical, romantic, intellectual, or even athletically competitive, elevates everyone’s mood, as it evokes the secure sense with which we began our lives as part of an infant/parent dyad. The most clear example of this is the pas de deux, and a well synchronized violinist and pianist can have a similar effect, if their playing has the flow of choreography.   For the most part, this was not the case with Batiashvili and Lewis even though they were completely in synch and impressively integrated, while appearing to be playing in parallel rather than as a couple. Lewis did occasionally look at Batiashvili with a coordinating nod but the gaze was seldom mutual.   At the end of the Schubert Rondo for Violin and Piano in B minor, Lewis actually rolled his eyes at Batiashvili during their bow, with a conspiratorial expression that was not easy to interpret but suggested some sort of shared extreme challenge.

Of course musical pairs are not required to be Leslie Howard and Ingrid Bergmann in Intermezzo but a sense that the performers feel uplift and accomplishment, plus a sense of gratitude to each other for their individual contribution, is an extra outcome that can elevate an event. This was the case, for example, when Angela Hewitt and Anne Sofie von Otter appeared here earlier in the season. It’s even more apparent in the performance by Lewis and Cooper of the Schubert Fantasie in F Minor, at the end of which the performers wrap each other in a heartfelt embrace. Batiashvili and Lewis seemed more like respectful and very well matched professionals.

Even so, there were dance like moments when Lewis, who is tall and lanky, played with the lean grace of a Fred Astaire, with an emphatic foot stamp, and when Batiashvili, gowned as beautifully and tastefully as Ginger Rogers, dipped forward or lifted her bow with fluid, almost balletic energy. The final piece on the program, the Beethoven Violin Sonata No 10 in G Major, the Cockcrow, was the most satisfying in this way. A composition with a sense of dialogue was a fitting culmination to a concert in a hall that was designed to encourage communication.

Robin Roger

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