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Lisiecki, Jordan, and Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique”

Jan Lisiecki looks off to the upper left corner of the frame. He has short, curly brown hair and bright blue eyes. He leans against stone wall, casting a long, blue shadow.
© Stefano Galuzzi
Pianist Jan Lisiecki

Saturday, November 16, 2024
8:00 PM

Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki is the soloist in Mozart’s mysterious and stormy Piano Concerto No. 20, infused with operatic drama and expressivity. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky said of his Symphony No. 6, the Pathétique, “I love it as I have never loved any of my musical children.” It was his last completed work, and he led the premiere less than two weeks before his death.

Philippe Jordan, conductor
Jan Lisiecki, piano

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K.466
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6, Pathétique

This concert is no longer available on demand.

In an interview at Symphony Hall, Jan Lisiecki describes the unique qualities and challenges of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20. Hear the interview using the player above, and read the transcript below.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Jan Lisiecki, who's back at the hall for the first time in a few years. I think, so Jan, thank you for a little of your time today. I appreciate it.

Jan Lisiecki It's a great pleasure to be here once again. I'm really looking forward to these performances of Mozart.

Brian McCreath I'm curious about this particular concerto. It is a really distinctive one among Mozart's concertos. And so, my question is simply, what made it your choice for this particular program?

Jan Lisiecki The concerto has so much drama and so much emotion. Out of the Mozart concertos, it certainly has, I would say, the most strength in a modern concert setting, also for how the piano is used, also for the colors. We can push the boundaries a little bit versus the traditionalists and a "proper" way of playing Mozart, of course, which would be more chamber music, like, more closed, and in the settings that would have been much, much smaller than a hall such as this. So, it's a very well-suited concerto for the modern orchestra, for the modern piano. Not that I don't play other Mozart concertos in the same settings, but it is particularly well suited, and I love it. It's just one of the most incredible pieces that was ever written, and it's a great joy to play.

Brian McCreath Do you remember your first encounter with this particular concerto, either as a listener or when you decided to take it on as a pianist?

Jan Lisiecki It was probably one of the first Mozart concertos I played. Maybe not the very first, but, to me, I feel like I've played it forever. And that's actually a great thing because it's completely with me, and in a symbiotic relationship, I would say. I can't recall the first time I heard it because it's been part of my life for so long. But I know that I've always associated it with incredible experiences. I love the first movement with its dark and stormy beginning from the very, very, very start. You have these amazing triplets in the celli and basses which give this foreboding atmosphere, and then I copy that when it comes in. And there's two great cadenzas written by Ludwig van Beethoven, which couldn't be more fitting because of course, it's a little later in style, but very suited for this forward-looking concerto. And the second movement is phenomenal, with interplay of piano and woodwinds in the middle section where we have, really, chamber music on a great scale. It's wonderful, it's lovely, and the musicians here are phenomenal. So I think we're all in for a treat.

Brian McCreath Absolutely. You sort of dropped a reference to the "proper" way of Mozart overall. And the thing is that this piece, probably like most of these concertos, but certainly the second movement of this piece feels like a lot depends on your decisions. A lot depends on how you choose to play this piece. And I kind of wonder where you find your Mozart inspiration. Is it in recordings of other pianists? Is it in the non-piano Mozart music? Where do you find your sensibility to make that kind of decision in a moment of the music that Mozart doesn't give you a lot of direction.

Jan Lisiecki He gives you a little bit of direction, just the fact that the movement is written Alla breve, which means that it should be always felt in two as opposed to in four. That really does shape a little bit the tempo you take. And of course, a lot of the decisions you make are based off of that tempo. And also the middle section should be close, at the very least, to the tempo that you take for the beginning. So that's actually the first question I asked Maestro Jordan when we met is, what shall we do for the second movement? What is your opinion? How strong is your opinion on keeping the same tempo through the movement? And we were very close to each other in that opinion. So, of course my greatest hope is that I can convey that during the performances because a slight movement here, a slight movement there, might tip the scales a little bit. So, certainly one of the challenges of this work is to ensure that you find a calm and relaxed and natural feel to the second movement, one that also allows you to then play with it when we have this amazing middle section with the woodwinds that needs a little bit more ferociousness and movement.

Brian McCreath Fantastic. I took a peek at your calendar, and while this piece has been with you for, as you say, longer than you can even remember, really, it's the only program on which you appear to be playing this piece this year. You have a year stacked with Beethoven piano concertos as well as some Chopin, which is one of your calling cards, and Grieg, which, I think you played Grieg with the BSO at one point.

Jan Lisiecki At Tanglewood.

Brian McCreath At Tanglewood, yeah. And so, tell me about how a single program of a piece like this plays into your wider life as a musician, and whether there's any relationship between what you're doing this week and all the rest of those programs.

Jan Lisiecki Well, when it came to programing this week, I think it came down to two concertos. And one of them was Prokofiev's Second, and one of them was Mozart's D minor. I would have loved to play Prokofiev Two as well, of course, but I'm very glad that Maestro Jordan, in the end, chose Mozart D minor because, of course, for a single week it's something that I can spend more time thinking about the musicality rather than the technicality of the program, Prokofiev Two being probably the hardest concerto in the repertoire. So, with something like this, actually, it gives you a fresh perspective because on the one hand, playing something a lot, playing a work frequently during a season ensures that the quality is very high, and your musical opinions are very well formed. But sometimes they become too well-formed almost because you have worked with it, you've lived with it, you've slept with it, and it's just in your mind all the time. So, a fresh perspective is sometimes the better choice. And in this case, we do have a fresh perspective. But as I've mentioned, it's a work that I have known for my whole life. So, it's not uncomfortable in any way.

Brian McCreath Absolutely. And you mentioned Beethoven's cadenzas and the fact that it is one of Beethoven's favorite Mozart concertos. You can hear it. You can hear why, anyway. And so, do you feel like this week is adding a little bit of context to all of those... You're performing all five Beethoven - I'll just unpack that - all five Beethoven concertos plus the Triple in a series of concerts with Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and others. Does this week give you something a little bit more to think about when you're performing those?

Jan Lisiecki Of course. As a musician, my least favorite question is, what's your favorite composer, or what's your favorite piece? Because there's no good choice. And the way we perform music by Beethoven is shaped by the way we've experienced Mozart or Bach or Haydn or plenty of the others that came in between. There is no taking out a certain composer. So, every experience that I have also with this concerto will shape and influence the way I perform the Beethoven concertos, without a doubt. It sometimes becomes dangerous, almost, because, especially with this work, you can let go of yourself a little bit and go forward with Mozart. And there's nothing wrong with that inherently, but it is wise to remain cautious and remember that you are still playing Mozart in the end. And that's what I hope to do.

Brian McCreath Excellent. Well, it sounds wonderful in rehearsal. So, Jan Lisiecki, it's great to have you back at the hall here, wonderful to hear you play again. So, thanks again for your time today. I appreciate it.

Jan Lisiecki Thank you very much for your time. It's always a pleasure to speak with you.