In Toronto with Peter Oundjian
My Schumann adventures are slowly coming to an end - after the three performances in Berlin and Portland I played it now twice in Toronto with Peter Oundjian and his wonderful Toronto Symphony. I feel so fortunate of having played this complicated piece with three quite different (but all very strong) conductors where the music making was very spontaneous and inspiring.
Christian Thielemann in Berlin, my good friend Carlos Kalmar in Portland, and now wonderful Peter Oundjian in Toronto carried me each performance through the piece - never any balance problems, and I felt I was able to do whatever I wanted to do. As a matter of fact, each of them didn't just accompany me but inspired me to explore the depths of this work, go in different directions in every performance. Quite amazing for me was the flexibility with which the orchestras reacted to their maestros. Yes, I experienced a freedom I never thought I would dare to take.
The only frustrating note was, that inspite of me feeling very free and expressive the press in Berlin and Portland criticized that it sounded emotionally restricted and small. I wrote about this already after the Berlin concerts, but when I read a similar review in Portland, I tried to come up with a plausible answer why the reviewer who liked me two years ago suddenly thought I was lacking emotionality. "Don't listen to reviews" Peter scolded me, and maybe he is right. Here in Toronto the person liked it very much, but I will tell you in my next blog what my explanation for the luke-warm reviews are. Most probably I am wrong, but it is a thought...
Now I will be off to Berlin for a nice weekend with my son before having to fly to Korea on Monday for - another Schumann!