Tuesday Night Fever - Nobu Plays Rach 2
/By Truman C. Wang
8/16/2022
Tuesday nights at the Bowl are typically slow, but not this night. There was something special in the air. Nobuyuki Tsujii (aka “Nobu”) is one of the most unique classical pianists performing today. Born in Tokyo in 1988 and blind from birth, the 34-year-old pianist first burst onto the international scene when he shared the Van Cliburn gold medal in 2009. First and foremost, Nobu is a fine pianist who has something fresh to say in Rachmaninoff’s well-worn Second Concerto, and says it eloquently and elegantly.
His visual handicap is more than compensated by the heightened auditory acuity and motor dexterity, so that in the first movement “moderato” he was able to carry the Big Tune and the alla marcia march ending with Argerich’s intensity and Richter’s precision. In the second movement “adagio sostenuto”, where the orchestra holds the Big Tune instead, Nobu listened and responded with sensitive accompaniment that melded beautifully with the wind solos. The final allegro scherzando showed Nobu at his virtuoso best, completely unfazed by the tricky double-accented dance rhythm. A well-deserved standing ovation was followed by two virtuoso encores – Liszt's “La Campanella” and Kapustin’s Concert Etude Op.30 No.1
The L.A. Phil, under the baton of Louis Langrée, was an ideal partner in the Concerto and a superlative instrument in the Second Symphony. It is a rare pleasure to hear the symphony performed uncut and executed with such sweeping passion, clarity and a balanced spectrum of instrumental color, for there is no deeper philosophical meanings beneath its surface sheen and passion. One also appreciated Langrée’s attention to detail by following Rachmaninoff’s scrupulous markings, be it tiny hairpins on a particular motif, a sharp sforzando or a carefully calibrated fluctuation of pacing. It was a grand Tuesday night at the Bowl.
Truman C. Wang is Editor-in-Chief of Classical Voice, whose articles have appeared in the Pasadena Star-News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, other Southern California publications, as well as the Hawaiian Chinese Daily. He studied Integrative Biology and Music at U.C. Berkeley.