Disappointment, on Thursday, to learn of the cancellation of pianist Sergei Babayan at the Bach Festival in favor of an – as far as we are concerned – illustrious unknown. Called in as reinforcements, the young Georgian pianist Nicolas Namoradze largely saved the furniture in the Bourgie Room.
The Babayan recital, which offered us a memorable first notebook of the Tempered keyboard by Bach two years ago, was to be one of the highlights of this festival. It was a bad flu which, we are informed, kept him confined to his home. It’s only a postponement, especially since the musician is a regular at Montreal concerts.
At 31 years old, Nicolas Namoradze is already quite a phenomenon. After growing up in Hungary, he studied piano at the Juilliard School before winning the renowned Honens competition in Calgary in 2018. Active as a composer, he has also done advanced studies in neuropsychology related to musical performance.
At the concert as in the laboratory
It is a shame that almost half of the spectators chose to ignore Namoradze who, if his biographical sketch is to be believed, often sells out audiences around the world. They missed a recital of rare distinction.
Distinction in the very “intellectual” choice of the program. If the second part was devoted to the great Sonata in B flat majorD. 960, by Schubert, the first gave a certain place to the hero of the festival with an extract from The art of running away and the French suite no 1 in D minorBWV 812, but also to one of the “celebrated” of the year, Ligeti (it is the centenary of his birth), with the delicate Study no 11“ Outstanding », and to Rachmaninoff, one of the replacement pianist’s favorite composers.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Nicolas Namoradze at Bourgie Hall, Thursday evening
Rachmaninov-Namoradze, we should say, since it is, on the one hand, a paraphrase of a melody by the Russian composer, and on the other hand a transcription of the Adagio of his Symphony no 2 in E minoropus 27. From the first notes in the high notes of Memories of Rachmaninoff’s Georgian Songthe pianist makes us listen with delight to taste the magnificent colors he extracts from the great Steinway.
The artist is sensitive not only to the resonance of the instrument, but also to the song that emanates from it. We have the impression, from the beginning to the end of the concert, of a long continuous melody, sustained with tenderness and beauty.
A specialist in mindfulness in musicians (this is his specialization in neuropsychology), Namoradze applies to concerts what he studies in the laboratory. We never have the impression of a body to body with the instrument, but more of an empathetic tête-à-tête always open to what the spontaneity of the concert can bring to light.
The pianist, however, has the fault of his qualities. In the more rhythmic pieces, the concern for singing, which almost abolishes the bar line in the first two movements of the Schubert, fairly limits the rebound of the pulsation, as in the Courante de la Courante de la Courante de la Courante de la Courante de la Courante de la Courante de la Courante French suiteCounterpoint VI of The art of running away or the Scherzo of the sonata. But the musician fully embraces his approach and we can only be impressed by the power of his proposition.
Very generous, Nicolas Namoradze offered three reminders, a very strong one, the Sonata no 4, op. 30, by Scriabin, a short piece by the latter (which we have not been able to identify) and the Gymnopedia no 1 by Satie.