Reviews: Brigitte Engerer and Queen’s Park Sinfonia

A clutch of great pianists is in town this week thanks to Birmingham International Piano Academy, giving masterclasses at the Conservatoire to students from around the world. Part of their brief is also a public performance, and what we heard on Thursday from Brigitte Engerer, a big name in her native France but one scandalously little known here, was an amazing bonus for BIPA.

Her account of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto dropped the jaw immediately, her introductory flourish imperiously flowing and self-assured, and inspiring an equally dynamic extended opening paragraph from the youthful and expert Queen’s Park Sinfonia under Richard Laing. The equally youthful Laing could easily have been overawed in such commanding company, but not a bit of it. Indeed, his attentive deployment of his orchestra, and Simon Chalk’s elegant leadership, were important factors in this memorable experience. There were a couple of orchestral mishaps during the evening, one potentially disastrous, but all concerned surmounted them brilliantly.

Engerer’s tone is often big, sometimes so powerful on this Yamaha right at the front of the stage that orchestra contributions were difficult to hear, but her rich colouring both of mighty chords and eloquently individual single notes made this always a compelling reading from an undoubtedly great musician. She encored with a stunning Debussy Feux d’Artifice, sizzling and explosive. Other than this extraordinary offering, the rest of the programme was all-Beethoven.  Laing’s muddy response to the Coriolan Overture sacrificed tight ensemble in the search for tragic emphasis, losing the work’s restless essence.

But his interpretation of the magical Fourth Symphony delighted in its play of light and shade, securing from the QPS playing which combined lyricism with tautness and clarity.

Christopher Morley, 28 July 2007, © 2007 Birmingham Post & Mail Ltd