OK... All caught up. So, let's see...
OH!..
Rada Lupu's recital at Carnegie Hall was quite wonderful. The first half, however, was a bit so-so, but only because the music was a bit so-so (imho - and some others hold that opinion too). He played one of Schubert's "great" sonatas, the one in D Major. However, it's always been considered the "lesser of the greats". It makes for some interesting listening and analysis, since it just seems to wander from idea to idea, from motive to motive. -Heck, even the program notes mentioned the fact the first movement contains no "real" extended melody, it's all bits and pieces. And then the whole things ends quietly - and sort of puzzingly too. However, it was a good performance, and I give Mr. Lupu major props for not making the 40 minute duration of the piece - he took all the repeats - seem like 40 minutes.
The second half was devoted to the First Book of Debussy Preludes. -I had thought it was the Second Book he was playing tonight, but since I love Debussy... I don't think I've ever heard Rada Lupu play any French repertoire before. He's known as a Classicist - lots of the standards (Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert, etc.), but his playing of the Preludes really showed how coloristic his playing can be. "Des pas sur la neige" ("footprints in the snow") ends in a series of ever-softer pianissimos and pianississimos, and he brought out each and every gradation of sound, while imbuing the notes with some wonderful textures and colors. Truly impressive. -And to these ears, sort of pleasantly unexpected. And in the more overt selections, his virtuosity and control was unquestionable.
His first encore was one of the Preludes from Book Two, after which I turned to Sean, and said, "Hmm... I wonder if he's just going to go ahead and play the other 11 for the rest of his encores."
