Reviews of Master Pianist

Master Pianist

The Scotsman *****
Ken Walton
7 November 2011

Nobody could accuse Robert Levin of toeing the party line. The American pianist, musicologist and conductor performed a version of Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra that, I can assure you, will never have been heard before.

It was, in some senses, outrageous - but in a stimulating way. That's mainly because Levin chooses, as he himself announced, to throw caution to the wind by playing cadenzas that are not only improvised on the spot, but inserted at points in the concerto you wouldn't expect it. "When the orchestra stops, fasten your seatbelts," declared the audacious eccentric.

Whatever oddities and absurdities - the knife-edge harmonic brinkmanship of the cadenzas, or the surreal pedalling with which Levin allowed the opening theme of the Largo to fuse like an impressionistic cluster - this was riveting stuff. We heard a safe old favourite turned on its head and given a fresh lick of paint.

And we saw a lid-less piano turned around so that the pianist - Levin both directed and played - was facing the audience, surrounded by the orchestra. It's the way Beethoven would have done it, he said, and it was an astonishing revelation to hear the piano's amplified presence as a result.

Elsewhere in this absorbing concert, the animated Levin, directed Mozart's nimble Divertimento in F and Schubert's charismatic Third Symphony. These performances were full of impeccable detail, and more eccentricity, such as the Trio partnering Schubert's Minuet, delivered with all the whimsical spontaneity of a flamboyant party piece for oboe and bassoon.

Never a dull moment.

The Herald ****
Michael Tumelty
7 November

We know American Robert Levin in these parts. He has been here before. He is a renowned theorist, musicologist, pianist and player-director. And he did all of these at once on Friday night with the SCO in a performance of Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto that was out of the box, to say the least.

The musician, an engaging chap, and clearly a character, took this most familiar concerto on a journey. Perhaps it was more of an expedition. Actually, it was an adventure, with Indiana Levin and SCO Raiders of the Lost Beethoven Three charging through some little-charted musical territory: he played with the lid off the instrument and the sharp end pointed at the audience.

He's done that before. But he also explained that, as Beethoven did, he was going to play along with the orchestra, even when not supposed to. Further, he was going to improvise the cadenzas. "When the orchestra stops, fasten your seatbelts and say a prayer."

You might not have liked what followed, but it was electric; and provocative. Not only did he add all manner of decorations, he got the SCO wind principals to do it too in one passage of the slow movement.

Did it work? By and large, yes, except when he pedalled through the piano writing in the slow movement, turning it to goo. Was it authentic? Not entirely; Levin didn't break piano strings, insult the audience, interrupt the performance or hurl foul epithets at the orchestra, as Beethoven was wont to do. Otherwise it was pretty close. He just has to work a bit on the abuse. Some lovely Mozart and Schubert playing prefaced the adventure.