The word of the week is: piano
It’s a great week for keyboard fans, especially those who love Brahms’ piano music. Noted pianist Vladimir Feltsman is in town for an extended stay with the Seattle Symphony, where he first plays Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 in a program that also offers the second of the four Brahms symphonies; Gerard Schwarz conducts tonight’s concert.
The Brahms continues Saturday and Sunday, when Feltsman plays the other, even bigger, Brahms piano concerto (No. 2), and the orchestra provides the Symphony No. 4. The Brahms Concerto No. 2, by the way, was heard last season with Andre Watts as the soloist, in a program that was very successfully filmed for TV and broadcast over Channel 9 (KCTS).
By now, Seattle audiences have heard Vladimir Feltsman in a wide variety of repertoire, and it seems there’s nothing this deep-thinking pianist doesn’t do well. His Bach is both rigorous and highly inventive, his Beethoven is that of a genuine classicist, and he can make the keyboard roar with his version of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” It will be interesting to see what he does with two of the biggest romantic-era piano concerti.
Born in Moscow in 1952, Feltsman was an early starter at the piano, debuting with the Moscow Philharmonic at age 11. In 1969, he entered the Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory of Music to study piano; he also studied conducting at both the Moscow and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) Conservatories. A U.S. citizen since 1995, Feltsman lives in upstate New York.
Concert details: 8 p.m. today and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle; $17-$95 (206-215-4747, 866-833-4747, or www.seattlesymphony.org).
And for still more piano
Arnaldo Cohen, well known to local audiences through his previous appearances here, returns Thursday to play another of the mightiest of the piano concerti: the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2. Cohen, who teaches at Indiana University, is known as an impassioned interpreter, and should be ideally suited for the large-scale heroics of this piece. Gerard Schwarz conducts the Seattle Symphony in the program, 7:30 p.m. Thursday and 8 p.m. Nov. 17, Benaroya Hall; $17-$95 (206-215-4747 or www.seattlesymphony.org). Some more distinguishing features of this concert pair: Shostakovich’s searing Symphony No. 11 (”The Year 1905″) and the first appearance in his new role of violinist Frank Almond, one of the orchestra’s four co-concertmasters.
Even more piano
Virtuoso Piano Series: This series continues Saturday at Town Hall, with a performance by pianist Tien Hsieh, whose recital extends from Bach and Beethoven to Schumann and Liszt. Her live recording (including some of these works) demonstrates her commanding technique and an orchestral-like sonority at the piano (check out www.tienhsieh.com).
Concert details: 8 p.m. Saturday, Town Hall, 1119 Eighth St., Seattle; $16-$22 (800-838-3006 or www.brownpapertickets.com).
Autumn Piano Festival: Gallery Concerts’ three-weekend piano festival continues with a program called “Romantic Virtuosi,” offering performances of Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata; a group of Chopin Etudes; Liszt’s “Mephisto Waltz No. 1″; and other selections by Amy Beach, Fauré, Ravel, Debussy and Gottschalk. Pianists Rie Ando (of Yokosuka, Japan) and Françoise Papillon (of Montreal) share the recital, performing on a concert grand piano built by Chickering of Boston in 1867 and originally owned by Miles C. Moore, the last governor of the Washington Territory.
Concert details: 3 p.m. Sunday, Queen Anne Christian Church, 1316 Third Ave. W., Seattle; $10-$25 (206-726-6088 or www.galleryconcerts.org; kids 7-14 free on a one-to-one basis with a ticketed adult).
Renaissance music
The Renaissance Singers, a group specializing in repertoire of the medieval and Renaissance eras, are set to perform their first concert as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit; all 12 singers are paid, and the opening concert offers works of English Renaissance composers John Sheppard and William Byrd. Director Markdavin Obenza says the group is “trying to continue the legacy of the Tudor Choir, which is now operating under a limited capacity.”
The repertoire includes both serious sacred works and witty secular songs about life in that era. Obenza is a singer and vocal coach who recently earned a master’s degree from the University of Washington; his singing career began at age 10 with the Northwest Choirs, and he went on to study with Peter Phillips and the Tallis Scholars in Oakham, England. He performs as a countertenor with the Tudor Choir.
Concert details: The performance starts at 8 p.m. Saturday in Episcopal Church of the Ascension, 2330 Viewmont Way W., Seattle; admission is by suggested donation of $10-$15.
Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com