Christian Zacharias – A Friend

Foto: Virgil Oprina

Present for the third time consecutively at the “George Enescu” International Festival and for the second with Orchestre de Chambre de Laussane, pianist and conductor Christian Zacharias has become one of the representative participations in the festival, the most significant reference in the midnight series of concerts at the Romanian Athenaeum.

Writing on the concerts whose protagonist is Christian Zacharias is not an easy task and yet is always an extremely generous topic. All the more since there are concert programmes where Schumann's Romanticism – the theme of the three concerts within this edition of the festival – crowned by the interpretation of three exceptional artistic personalities, namely the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, cellist Antonio Meneses and Christian Zacharias in its double position as soloist and conductor.

The programme of the first concert included, in a subjective order, completed by the intensity of the audience's ovations, Symphony no. 2 in Do major, Op. 61 (First part), Allegro and Introduction in Re Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op.134 and Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in La Minor, Op. 129. Apart from the absolutely exceptional quality of the sound in the chamber ensemble on all scores, apart from the way in which these musicians manages nearly without err to turn themselves into an unique instrument resounding to the most subtle of the conductor's intentions, Orchestre de Chambre de Laussane impresses by its attitude.

On the occasion of its first participation in this festival,  Kremerata Baltica Orchestra – returning this year next to Gidon Kremer – I joined those to saw and listened to them, impressed with the way in which the musicians involve in the interpretation act, that type of conduct where individuality melts in the unity of the ensemble, giving it an unmistakeable – sound – personality. They were, despite their youth, extraordinary in everything they did.

It is the same feeling one always gets on each presence of Orchestre de Chambre de Laussane. Only that in their case the emotion is not placed exclusively under the sign of youth, but also under that of the subtlety that manages – whether there are Mozartian or Schubertian sounds, as it was the case in the programme of their previous participations in the festival – to surprise through the intelligence and variety of scaling nuances, through the way in which it understands and transmits the musical vision of the conductor.

These qualities delighted the audience (which filled even the stairs in the large hall of the Athenaeum) in the accompaniment parts as well. Christian Zacharias with his Allegro and Introduction in Re Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op.134 was – as usual – narrative par excellence, vocal, nearly opera like, and at the same time unwavering in tracing the melodic lines and the specifically Schumannian harmonic subtleties. In other words, a new and captivating lesson of style. It repeated presence in the festival gives birth, as predictable, to a small and sophisticated group of detractors who claim that the deceiving sign of his many qualities actually hides a recipe levelling musical styles, but... it is so fortunate to be so!

However, Christian Zacharias the musician is, happily, by no means the type to display an obedient, pleasant personality and... nothing more. Moreover, his extended and minute knowledge of a vast repertoire also highlights his generosity towards his stage partners.

Brazilian cellist Antonio Meneses came with a different type of decoding for Schumann's music, unconditionally accompanied by the conductor and the orchestra. Under a somewhat edgy visual appearance, with no large gestures, with a supple use of the bow, Antonio Meneses also impressed through the sound result of his exceptional instrument. His version of Schumann's concert, and that of the encore (the Bach Cello-Suite No. 1), was filled with technical shape and refined musical vision.

The collective hypnosis phenomenon that Christian Zacharias performed again together with his orchestra on the audience of the festival ended after Sunday midnight, at the end of the third Schumann concerto which included two symphonies and the brilliant Introduction and Allegro appassionato for piano and orchestra, Op. 92.

The concerts of the artistic binomial Christian Zacharias and Orchestre de Chambre de Laussane remain a feast whose echoes resound from one edition of the “George Enescu” International Festival to the other. Far from making one feel they have heard enough of them, the presence of these artists defines the class of this festival. The audience will be looking forward to meeting them again in future editions of the festival. And not only in admiration, but also in grateful friendship.