The opening concert of the Oxford Philharmonia's Beethoven Festival certainly bodes well for the rest of the concerts this month.
The concert opened with Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1, with Marios Papadopoulos directing from the piano. Conducting and playing simultaneously must require far more skill than doing each task separately, and for that alone he has my respect. Yet both playing and directing were accomplished - the piano lines had clarity and lyricism and the orchestra's dynamics were beautifully controlled, despite occasional minor timing difficulties and some lack of balance within the woodwind section. The only major flaw was a clicking sound emanating from the piano; it sounded suspiciously like fingernails on the keys, though I find it hard to believe a pianist of Mr Papadopoulos's calibre would overlook such a fundamental point as cutting his fingernails before a performance. Whatever it was, it was very distracting.
The second half of the concert comprised Beethoven's 3rd symphony, the Eroica. The orchestra were again excellent: their attack and control were superb and I thought they showed this remarkable work at its best. Mr Papadopoulos introduced rather more tempo variations than I am used to, but perhaps that made me listen all the more closely.
In short, this was a most enjoyable evening. If this is anything to go by, then the rest of the Beethoven Festival concerts come highly recommended.
D.M. Moodie, 10/11/08
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