Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra
- Janina Fialkowska, piano
- At Trinity-St. Paul Centre
- In Toronto on Thursday
Like Tiger Woods, Chopin was paid to endorse his equipment. He also had a hand in developing his favourite Pleyel pianos ("the last word in perfection," he said), so it was especially interesting to hear one of those instruments, carefully restored by the Quebec piano technicians Marcel Lapointe and Isabelle Gagnon, in Tafelmusik's first-ever concert with Janina Fialkowska.
The piano, in a gorgeous case of pale Cuban mahogany, turned out to be a remarkably gutsy and flavourful instrument, albeit quieter and with less sustaining power and bass resonance than a modern grand. Its clear, rather objective sound varied noticeably between registers, which after a few minutes made me wonder why we ever allowed piano makers to give up this intriguing diversity.
Fialkowska had never before performed on an instrument of this vintage. She drew many subtle shades of colour from the Pleyel's soft iron strings during her rich, thoughtful performance of Chopin's Concerto No. 1 in E minor, in a new arrangement for chamber ensemble by Dutch composer Sylvia Maessen. The second movement especially was a model of intelligent feeling, with a real sense of freedom in the line. Legato is a different experience on a Pleyel, even with ample pedalling. It felt more hand-made, less reliant on power steering.
The reduced instrumentation (for string quintet and woodwind quartet) was beautifully transparent, especially in the strings, and seemed much fresher and less monumental than Chopin's generic scoring for full orchestra. The players were mostly very attentive to Fialkowska's fluid sense of tempo (there was no conductor), but they underestimated the piano's punch - at times, I could barely hear the strings.
The concert opened with Ludwig Spohr's Grand Nonet in F major, for the same forces minus the second violin. Spohr was a big figure in the mid-19th-century, but his music has worn poorly. Time stood still for me, and not in a good way, as he batted his meagre melodic motifs from one instrument to another. The only section I would willingly hear again was the first trio, a charming accompanied solo for violin, played by Aisslinn Nosky. In other respects, the performance felt under-rehearsed: A few of Spohr's sudden virtuoso riffs in the opening allegro seemed to catch even the players by surprise.
Tafelmusik and Janina Fialkowska repeat this program through Oct. 10.