REVIEW: Electrifying Conrad Tao Connects With Rachmaninoff
Above photo by Joseph Sinnott.
December 6, 2023
Visionary virtuoso Conrad Tao pounced onto the 92NY stage with an electrifying opening set. Restless and dramatic, Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C Major, Op. 32, No. 1 was an overture hinting at the breadth of the story about to unfold.
Tao’s Rachmaninoff is so crisp and detailed, his fingers create sparks. The following Prelude in A-flat major, Op. 23, No. 8, made clear that this is a pianist who transcends technique: Tao has the ability to transform a composer’s notation into something very personal.
The third piece, Prelude in G Major, Op. 32, No. 5, revealed his genius. The audience raptly leaned in — silent, as if holding its breath — as Tao weaved Rachmaninoff’s bittersweet melody over rippling accompaniment with a mastery of tone color that brought a tear to my eye, so exquisite was his control of line and the delicacy with which he shaded the music’s emotional shifts.
Photo by Joseph Sinnott
In a stroke of brilliance, Tao then took a surprising detour, segueing into Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the A Train.” The program, which Tao called Rachmaninoff Songbook, explores his theory that upon Rachmaninoff’s move to New York in 1918, the Russian composer’s interest in American popular song and jazz influenced his compositions, and vice/versa.
Zigzagging across time, Tao made his argument in an eclectic curation reflecting his varied enthusiasms and limitless skills. The glow of a stylish, impassioned rendition of “In Buddy’s Eyes” from Sondheim’s Follies was chilled by Schumann’s cryptic “Auf einer Burg” from Liederkreise, Op. 39, with an ambiguous harmonic structure seemingly ahead of its time.
Juxtaposing the jazzy fifteenth variation from Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Art Tatum’s take on Harold Arlen’s “Over the Rainbow” solidified his theory. But preceding that with an innocent reading of Irving Berlin’s foxtrot “All by Myself,” followed by a fiery, free improvisation before exploding into the Rachmaninoff excerpt imparted jaw-dropping impact.
Photo by Joseph Sinnott
Strayhorn, the gay jazz composer behind the curtain of the success of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, remained a fascination. Two Étude-Tableaus, the character piece Daisies (from 6 Romances, Op. 38), and the beloved Variation 18 from the Paganini Rhapsody took on decidedly songlike personas, in balance with Strayhorn’s chromatic and rhapsodic Day Dream and Lush Life. Perhaps the latter’s lyric holds special meaning for Tao who earnestly delivered the vocal line while playing.
If the association he makes between Rachmaninoff and Strayhorn doesn’t fully connect for me, it made for a winning sequence of music nonetheless. The notion of Rachmaninoff as tunesmith fully jelled in the program’s second half, a thrilling performance of his richly melodic Sonata for Cello and Piano in G Minor, Op. 19 from 1901.
Conrad Tao and Oliver Herbert. Photo by Joseph Sinnott.
Cellist Oliver Herbert soared, while Tao dazzled at the keyboard. The pair began the Lento introduction as a profound question. Tao launched into the epic answer with rhythmic and aquatic thrust, sending Herbert’s honey-toned, yearning phrases afloat. The high-jinx suspense of the second movement, Allegro scherzando, was knife-edged. Herbert and Tao wore their hearts on their sleeves with just the right amount of sentimentality in the bittersweet Andante.
The triumphant spirit of the Allegro mosso finale cleared the air. By turns emphatic and reflective, it’s impossible to imagine a more convincing performance. Tao’s keen ear for harmony, architectural sense of form and drive, and tonal mastery of the instrument — coloring different planes of texture with linear scope — are only matched by the abundance and generosity of spirit he shares with his audience.
***
Not to be missed, Conrad Tao’s next New York performances (his Mozart is wonderful, too):
Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 with the New York Philharmonic
