In Wednesday’s (1/4) Houston Chronicle, Colin Eatock writes, “The people at the Houston Symphony have come up with a pretty clever campaign for its upcoming RachFest: The advertising deliberately resembles a promotion for a boxing match. For three weeks in January, Jones Hall will play host to ‘the biggest, baddest showdown of the century’: composer Sergei Rachmaninoff ‘vs.’ pianist Kirill Gerstein. … The famous Russian composer wrote four big-fisted piano concertos that are daunting for any pianist. The 32-year-old Gerstein is barely stepping into the ring to play all four of them.” Rachmaninoff, writes Eatock, “lived well into the 20th century but retained a 19th-century romantic compositional style all his life—and that didn’t always sit well with the critics. He remains a contender, and a popular one, but six decades after his death he’s still fighting to defend his title. Fortunately, he’s got Houston Symphony music director Hans Graf in his corner. ‘I think that Rachmaninoff is a great composer,’ he says, ‘but he suffers from the fact that he was also a great pianist. The fact is that some composers who don’t play, but who write good music, have no problem being recognized as composers. But some musicians who also play or conduct have to fight against their own glory as performers.’ ” The festival, which runs January 12 to 22, includes the Symphonic Dances, The Isle of the Dead, Vocalise, and the Symphony No. 3 in addition to the four piano concertos.
Posted January 5, 2012
