Classical review: Mitsuko Uchida

Published on Tuesday 22 September 2009 18:58

MITSUKO UCHIDA ***** PERTH CONCERT HALL

CREDIT where credit is due: Beethoven may have taken 18 months to write his last three piano sonatas (Opp 109,110 and 111) but when you hear them played as a continuous cycle – as Mitsuko Uchida did on Monday evening at the Perth Concert Hall – then the connections between the three become obvious.

And all credit to Uchida. Aside from the impressive feat of memory and stamina involved in playing the three sonatas in one continuous sitting of around 75 minutes, there was also the simple elegance, grace and power of her playing that brought the music to joyous life.

In some respects Uchida is a no-nonsense performer – she launched into the first movement of 109 with little ado, apart from a minor adjustment to her stool. Yet she draws you into the music so that within minutes you sit enthralled, not to say enchanted, and remain so until the end.

It was characteristic of this outstanding musician that her offering of an encore was to repeat part of Opus 110, from the adagio to the end, on the grounds that in her first playing one of the notes was less than perfect – Uchida's perception of what was (allegedly) less than perfect being somewhat on a different planet from the rest of humanity.

Suffice to say I believe the audience would have willingly listened to all three sonatas in their entirety again – and again – had the option been offered.