Brugge 3: Linda Nicholson

I'm closer to being adjusted to the time, I think. At least I was able to stay awake for the mid-day concert: Linda Nicholson playing on a reproduction of a Ferrini fortepiano. Ferrini built instruments very similar to the Christofore fortepiano, although I believe with a little wider range. The mechanics and sound are essentially identical. This instrument was built by Denzil Wraight and was actually brought here from the Schola Cantorum in Basel for the concert. It was obviously a very fine instrument, reminding me that these first fortepianos were real instruments (i.e., not "toys") and represented a huge departure from both the clavichord and harpsichord.

The recital was held in the Concertgebouw Kamermuziekzall (Chamber Music Hall). This is a very curious venue: it is a rectangular room of concrete with four levels that people can sit in: a vertical stadium. Obviously, the thing to do is get up one level for optimal viewing and sound. I'm learning you want to show up early for the concerts: they get a very good crowd. Again, there were several hundred very enthusiastic people.

Nicholson opened the concert with C.P.E. Bach's Sonata in a minor from the Sonatas with Varied Repeats. She recorded this sonata on the clavichord some years ago and that performance has always been a favorite. Today she took it more briskly; that made it more of a virtuoso vehicle, but it felt "pushed" to me. She is a performer with great technique and a lot of subtle nuances, but a little dry. The two Soler sonatas, both in c minor, that followed were very reflective, but not very exciting. The music sounded like it was intended for the inflections that the fortepiano provided and the performance reminded me that the Spanish were perhaps more quick to embrace the new fortepiano than others.

The real showpiece was Haydn's Capriccio "Acht Sauschneider müssen sein". Nicholson's performance was brilliant: absolute perfection. This is a piece that can easily sound trivial or banal. She embued it with an energy that I missed in most of the program. Although that piece is pretty late for this generation of fortepiano, it worked very well. It was a memorable performance.

Less memorable was the suite of five Scarlatti sonatas that followed. Nicholson favors the instrospective sonatas but her very nuanced performance made this a rather dull group: I was starting to think a lot about lunch. This is not to say that the prerformance was bad: this was playing of the highest caliber. In fact, the very enthusiast audience demanded an encore, which seems to me was reluctantly given.

I had better take a nap before the late evening performance: Benjamin Alard performing the Goldberg Varitions. I don't want to embarrass myself again!