Pianist/composer Conrad Tao, performing with the Kansas City Symphony in Helzberg Hall. (Credit: Kansas City Symphony)
Pianist/composer Conrad Tao joined the Kansas City Symphony for a Beethoven heavy program that gloried in the excitement and challenge of the composer’s work.
Saturday’s performance in Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts opened with the world premiere of Tao’s composition “The Hand,” concerto for piano and orchestra, commissioned by the Symphony as a companion piece to Ludwig van Beethoven’s Concerto no. 1 in C Major for piano and orchestra, op. 15, also on the program. This is the first work for an ambitious multi-year project instigated by music director Matthias Pintscher to pair new work with Beethoven’s piano concerti.
The premiere was on Saturday because of another new endeavor, the Symphonic Piazza series, which includes a shorter performance on select Fridays, offered by emitting a work (often the contemporary one) from the weekend’s program.
Tao had joined the Kansas City Symphony as soloist on the orchestra’s first European tour this past September, and his connection with Pintscher and the orchestra was evident in the comfortable confidence, and non-verbal rapport, during this concert.
Tao took inspiration from his examination of the manuscript for Beethoven’s concerto, in the scribblings and scratched out sections and ink blots…the evidence of the creative process too easily overlooked when addressing published scores and centuries of polished performances.
To this end, he created a piece of atmosphere and effect, dredging up that murky element of creation. At the piano, Tao pounded away at low tremolos and rolling chords (the balance such that it was difficult to tell if the piano was intended to be part of the texture or was merely drowned out), with all sorts of details emerging from the dark, rumbling base: microtone glissandi, snapping bass strings, a prepared note knocked high on the keyboard, extended ratchet. The piano was finally heard clearly about a third of the way through, thick, soft chords awarded the delicacy of that subtle “aha” moment in the creative process that hints at a way forward.
It ran 16 minutes, about half the length of the upcoming concerto, an interesting commentary—and contrast—to the familiar and well loved work.
On to Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 1 (published first, but composed third), a powerhouse virtuosic calling card, written by the young composer (about five years younger than Tao is now) for himself to perform as introduction into Viennese artistic society. Tao certainly brought a similar power to the keyboard, along with the necessary precision and direction, the orchestra right along with him (particularly clarinet in the second movement). With a quick look from Pintscher (who has learned, evidently, to not give an inch between movements), Tao thundered into the final movement, at breakneck speed and breathtaking.
After all that, with nearly an hour of playing, Tao gave a tremendous encore with his transcription of Art Tatum’s sweeping and virtuosic improvisation on “Over the Rainbow,” recorded in 1953. Tatum, a talent equally as robust and innovative as Beethoven at the keyboard, performed this Harold Arlen classic many times, with different versions captured in recording, and after Tao’s rendition, the audience was on its feet for the third time that evening.
Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7 in A Major, op. 92, was a thrilling experience, one the members of the orchestra also evidently enjoyed, given their expressions and exuberance. They highlighted Beethoven’s contrasts, the longer lines given strength by the faster undercurrent, the precision required to unleash his boundless enthusiasm. The sombre second movement, familiarly used in popular culture, was an immediate shift, the steady-on of the foundational rhythms setting up eloquent swells. Bowing from concertmaster Jun Uwasaki seemed particularly dramatic during the third movement, punctuating the flourishes and the fanfares.
Pintscher practically elided the third and fourth movements, with barely a breath before leaping into a headlong gallop of the Allegro con brio. With the surging motion of a powerful steed, this felt like a race toward a horizon of limitless land and sky, barely reigned in.
Reviewed Saturday, January 25, 2025. For more information about the Kansas City Symphony visit www.kcsymphony.org.
