A compelling playlist of Grieg prepares the ground for Ravel and Messiaen. Mussorgsky’s Pictures needed a bigger room.
Playing Grieg on home turf (the composer’s house is just a few steps away from the chamber music space) sees pianist Alexander Gadjiev start strong to an appreciative audience. It’s a thoughtful selection of miniatures too, opening with the opus 12 Arietta – simultaneously tender and crisp. This establishes a comforting intimacy. It sets the mood for the forthcoming spin around Grieg’s musical territory. Extreme dynamics along with over extended pedal work limited definition and drew focus away from underlying message, dampening expectations somewhat. The fourth movement from opus 54 Notturno saw evidence of a greater awareness of the space, more measured dynamic swells sitting better in the context of the piece. The Scherzo that followed opened with more diffuse light. A greater sense of cohesion felt settled on come the opus 71 number 3 Goblins – more unified expression, with clearly defined voices, tighter articulation, and more intentional dynamic shifts. The concluding Reminiscence, Op. 71 No. 7 bookended selection neatly, the piece drawing on the same material used in the opening Arietta.
In both the Ravel excerpts from Miroirs and Messiaen’s poetic Le baiser de ‘Enfant Jésus, Gadijev capitalised on the acoustic adjustment he had made by the end of the Grieg sequence. Gratifying delicacy in Oiseaux tristes, and a taut, driven Alborada were especially compelling. The Messiaen that followed was the real success in the first half, playing to Gadjiev’s preference for bold unequivocal voices. Expressively, Messiaen’s soundworld is his natural habitat – expression that seemed to fill in the gaps the real world had left in its wake.
In the second half, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition gave Gadijev permission to go full throttle, though the room struggles to contain him. It’s clear he revels in the performance, yet the often uncontained exuberance frequently results in unpredictable rubatos. Unconstrained dynamics result in inconsistently voiced melodic lines.
Gadjiev delights an audience who are accustomed to Troldsalen’s live acoustic and its picture window view of the Norwegian fjords. The unusual presence of this window provides valuable context for those moments when the pianist looks wistfully beyond the instrument. He bedazzles when the score is fast and loud, reliably summoning spirit and fury accordingly. In well-judged moments, shifts in colour, dynamics and tempi illustrate the adjustments he’s willing to make. A more sympathetic response to the uncompromising acoustic qualities of the space, would have likely helped.
