JON Kimura Parker may be the only pianist who can turn a musical war-horse into a champion racing bike. The Canadian musician sat down to play Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, using the piano stool as a biking seat, racing forward and, at times, standing up to transform the piano into his 'handlebars' as he headed into the sunset.
Mind you, this was not a terribly tempestuous Tchaikovsky. In fact, Parker and conductor David Atherton came close to turning the first movement into a gentle rhapsody, while the last movement was a bumptious Russian sleigh ride until the last bars. But Parker has such controlled energy that one feels he can run away with the concert at any time he chooses.
His only conservative aspect is his innate good sense. The opening was played slowly, almost dreamily, but when he and the music woke up he offered a transparently quick gallop.
He could hammer home the last octaves of the piece with more resonant volume than anybody. But at the same time, his staccato fingerwork was so brilliant he deserved the opportunity to go over the top.
He and Atherton did not quite see eye to eye in the tempos of the finale, but the few plunges ahead of the orchestra only increased the impetus.
And no matter how many times one has heard the Tchaikovsky work, Parker gave this concerto a sense of honest exhilaration. This was not the most profound or dramatic Tchaikovsky, but it was uniquely agreeable.
