Demands of Prokofiev piece well met (March 03, 2003)

By Valerie Scher, Classical Music Critic

The San Diego Union-Tribune

Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev was just 21 years old when he served as pianist in the 1912 premiere of his Piano Concerto No. 1

Impressive? Certainly.

But in the age department, pianist Lukas Vondracek has Prokofiev beat. He's only 16.

Vondracek displayed his spectacular talent in the concerto on Saturday during the Czech Philharmonic's Celebrity Series program, which Vladimir Ashkenazy conducted at downtown's Civic Theatre.

The lanky, bespectacled Czech prodigy, who began concertizing at age 4, combined a razzle-dazzle technique with artistic sensitivity and boyish charm. Vondracek might well become a darling of the classical music world.

Certainly he could not have asked for a more savvy conductor than Ashkenazy, who began his career as a phenomenal pianist. Ashkenazy was keenly attentive to Vondracek and made sure that the orchestra never overwhelmed him, either in tempo or volume.

Vondracek sat hunched over the keyboard, responding to the concerto's demands with welcome maturity. Though pianists sometimes give Prokofiev a pounding, Vondracek was more careful in his use of percussive force. He brought out the work's billowing chromaticism and sprightly dissonance. He also emphasized the bittersweet lyricism that sounded like an exquisite foreshadowing of the melodies in Prokofiev's later, greater Piano Concerto No. 3.

Saturday's audience, which filled approximately 2,500 of the hall's 2,885 seats, responded so enthusiastically to Vondracek that he supplied an encore: an elaborate, arpeggio-rich arrangement of the "Grand Pas de Deux" from Tchaikowsky's "The Nutcracker".

Click here to return to the News page