Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin
Brahms
- 3 Intermezzi Op 117; 6 Klavierstücke Op 118.
Webern
- Variations Op 27.
Brahms
- Rhapsody Op 79 No 2; Rhapsody Op 119 No 4
Frenchman Philippe Cassard - ever a popular visitor to Ireland - was back in Dublin to play Brahms at the Hugh Lane Gallery following the release of his new CD of the composer's piano music.
His selection was made from the final phase of Brahms's output when he had long since finished with the idea of the formal piano sonata, preferring instead to write short, individual pieces which he later grouped into small collections. His favourite name for these pieces was intermezzo, a slightly misleading term first introduced to piano music by Brahms's mentor, Robert Schumann.
It's misleading because of the suggestion of slightness. Cassard - from the opening bars of his recital - seemed intent on dispelling any such notion. He gave the Op. 117 Intermezzi, which Brahms referred to as three "lullabyes", the slow rocking quality of cradle-songs, but with an underlining power and depth.
Even allowing for the nine-foot Steinway brought in for the occasion, there was an emphatic quality which was at times too much, in my opinion. That said, contrast when it came was sublime, as in the tender second intermezzo of the Op. 118 Piano Pieces, following the tumultuous opener. Overall the approach was better suited to the two rhapsodies he played, full of drama and high-strung emotion.
In a change from the advertised programme, Cassard leavened the Brahms not with Schoenberg's Op. 11 Piano Pieces but with Webern's Op. 27 Variations. He spoke about them as serial music and difficult, but urged listeners to encounter them as expressive and moving. The concentration and multi-layered precision of his performance made such breakthroughs of experience entirely possible.
