Radu Lupu. Photo Mary Robert

RADU LUPU

. Pianist in Florence, Nuovo Teatro dell’Opera, 2012, may 5th

FLORENCE: On the occasion of the 75th Maggio Musicale Fiorentino the great pianist Radu Lupu gave another exciting recital in Florence; over the last decades he has left many wonderful memories. Born in Galati, Romania, in 1945, he started his career as a concert player in the 50s travelling all around the world and showing his great and indisputed mastery as an interpreter.

This marvellous piano recital was dominated by the music of  Schubert; we must remember that Radu Lupu is considered to be one of the world’s leading interpreters of Franz Schubert.

The pianist chose the Four Impromptu op. 142 and one of the most famous Piano Sonatas, D 845 op. 42 in A minor, late artistic maturity written shortly before his death and extremely characteristic of his style. Lupu approaches these pieces with modesty and compassion, giving prominence to the romantic lyricism of Schubert’s piano writing as we rarely can hear.

The sound is always very detailed with exquisite lyrical sensitivity which enhances Schubert’s music as few other pianists can. The emotion and the poetry with which he played the Four Impromptus op.142 and, above all, the Sonata op. 42, made a really deep impression on the audience with its miraculous internal balance, its melancholy and its disarming purity.

Sometimes Lupu’s art of playing seems a soliloquy between the pianist and the composer, and makes the listener feel uneasy, listening to this rather metaphysical dialogue.

Playing the vast architectural structures of Prélude, Chorale and Fugue by César Franck  (a rather unusual piece in his repertoire), Radu Lupu outlines with mastery the formal characteristics of the classical form, but above all he underlines the subtleties, the chromatisms and the post-romantic ardours that distinguishes  the piano style of the Belgian master.

The audience in the Great Hall of the New Opera House in Florence was totally concentrating and deeply moved; the conductor Zubin Mehta and the Finnish pianist Olli Mustonen were among them.

A great ovation for Radu Lupu, and one (just one unfortunately!) wonderful encore ended the evening.

Fabio Bardelli

translation from italian to english Riccardo Rosetti

Program:

Franz Schubert: Four Impromptu op. 142 D 935

César Franck: Prélude, Chorale and Fugue

Franz Schubert: Sonate in A minor op. 42 D 845