Olga Kern and Colorado Music Competition musicians in a musical triumph at Boulder – Seen and Heard Worldwide

United States Colorado Music Competition 2024 [1] – Numerous: Olga Kern (piano), Kabin Thomas (narrator), Colorado Competition Orchestra / Gemma New (director). Chautauqua Auditorium, Boulder, Colorado, 19.7.2024. (DS)

Vivien Fung – ‘Prayer’
Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No.2, Op.18
Grieg– Alternatives from Peer Gynt Suites 1&2

It was not simply one other busy journey day in July. I used to be ready, hour after hour, to see if my flight would ever elevate off throughout the latest world Microsoft expertise crash in order that I might make it for the anticipated third weekend of concert events at Boulder’s Colorado Music ComPetition. Many flights, together with these of folks hoping to listen to Olga Kern’s efficiency of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2, have been canceled with no imminent likelihood of rebooking. Sadly, they’d miss out on a incredible live performance.

However one thing mysterious (and completely unbiased of any trendy expertise) should have intervened on my behalf. As a result of I made it – by working down the jetway, hailing a Lyft and rushing alongside the open roads of Colorado to drag up moments earlier than the efficiency started at Boulder’s stunning Chautauqua Auditorium.

Whereas a lot composition today incorporates computer systems, software program, electronics and, typically, AI, Vivien Fung’s ‘Prayer’ is an fascinating testomony to a time once we have been relieved to have new expertise round us. She wrote the work throughout the isolation of COVID-19 to deliver bodily separated musicians throughout Canada along with recorded elements. It was intriguing to listen to this ‘pandemic work’ in a live performance corridor now, with a full orchestra below one baton.

It transitions fantastically to the stage – this time with the unwavering experience of conductor GeMMA New. Primarily based on a prayer by Hildegard von Bingen, Fung’s brief work is a balm for the soul. ‘Prayer’ opened with the grounding sound of a number of basses as different sections slowly joined in, till a sonorous, multi-textured mix wafted into the huge picket auditorium. I couldn’t assist however envision Fung writing the piece in isolation whereas eager to seize a way of the majestic profundity of spirit. She succeeded, skillfully and with gorgeous aesthetics – which might play as properly on Zoom as on a mountain. On the shut, the piece returns to a spot of quiet introspection after which ends with a poignant, single ring from the percussion part. Fung’s composition captured the viewers’s consideration and proved that expertise has not made it unimaginable to concentrate on one expertise at a time.

With expertise on the thoughts, I watched the Steinway lid open for Olga Kern’s efficiency of Rachmaninoff. Although we could take their existence with no consideration, devices are additionally technological improvements of their time. Like some other invention, they will work properly or break down and, like software program, they work finest with expert, inventive customers. Kern is one such technological grasp of the piano. Simply as a savvy Wall Road analyst would possibly elegantly manipulate an Excel spreadsheet, Kern tears into the piano to exhibit what it actually has to supply. And, after all, this can be a lot extra scintillating than a spreadsheet!

Kern carried out with countless vitality, powering via the Rachmaninoff concerto with a magnetic pleasure. From my seat within the second row, I noticed the instrument shake and soar on the stage, exhibiting its robust Steinway spine. However this was not simply piano showmanship – it was a really particular person method to a bit that audiences love and would possibly count on to listen to in a regular interpretation. Kern had different plans.

She lit a contemporary hearth below this behemoth work. At instances her phrasing was jazzy, and typically she had a Chopinesque type. Glimmers of early Brahms flowed from her fingers. The concerto’s emotional content material was putty in Kern’s fingers: she accentuated anxious and nervous undertones with a fingering method that emphasised her interpretation, and he or she turned passages into tender expressive moments with out falling into the mainstream pit of nostalgic shmaltz. And each climax – of which Rachmaninoff is the grasp – she approached with an intriguing selection. For some, she used a sweeping gesture, and for others she would soar on with shock or creep up on them with deliberate hesitancy. Kern made me basically inquisitive about and deeply drawn to this concerto once more – not a straightforward feat.

Although in each approach a soloist with a assured presence, Kern can be an ensemble participant and absolutely engaged with the orchestra. Her rapport with conductor New (who stepped in for Rune Bergmann who had been scheduled) was removed from hidden – they paired properly and led the competition orchestra collectively. Their working relationship was evident and elevated the expertise. Within the second motion, there was a testomony to Kern’s reference to the orchestra when she and the principal oboe performed the opening of alternating voices as if subsequent to one another in an intimate house quite than at a distance throughout the stage. It was heavenly.

The very best summer time festivals are sometimes locations of camaraderie the place musicians separated by their seasonal jobs return to outdated buddies in splendid settings like Boulder. Kern comes yearly to the Colorado Music ComPetition and, after shouts of bravo from the viewers, she beamed and introduced her encore decisions. One had the sensation that she was excited to share an intimate secret with us, as if she have been enjoying a favourite piece alone at midnight. She gave a rendition of Prokofiev’s Etude No.4 in C minor that entwined the foolish, severe and macabre magnificently. Kern completed with an viewers favourite, Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’, at such a rollicking velocity that she out-paced any bee which may have tried to maintain up.

The night ended with picks from Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suites. Kabin Thomas of CPR Classical Radio joined in to inform Peer Gynt’s story between every motion, and he had an actual knack for freshening up an outdated story. He framed Peer Gynt as ‘the Homer Simpson of Norway’, which amused the viewers, and he demonstrated listening expressions as he sat in entrance of the orchestra – a boon for many who need to method classical music. Thomas modeled find out how to enter the house of listening via demonstration.

The orchestra carried out with what struck me as a classic radio type – vivid, completely balanced tone and dynamics, tight phrasing – all with the purpose of sending a transparent message to audiences of all types. Below New, who held the orchestra along with ease, they performed particularly participating, sultry variations of ‘Anitra’s Dance’ and ‘Solveig’s Tune’. Everybody might really feel how every musician liked being a part of the comPetition’s music-making.

By the top of the night, ideas of a four-hour flight delay have been lengthy gone. Expertise has all the time been marching ahead, with its advantages and its detriments. Alongside the way in which, music has been a part of the journey of human creation. As soon as once more, the music didn’t let anybody down, no matter any world software program crashes, and it introduced distinctive artists and an impressed viewers collectively.

Daniele Sahr