Carnegie's Key Players
Yes, life is better in Manhattan, N.Y., than Manhattan, Kan. One sweet-sounding sign: Four of music's most admired pianists will play Carnegie Hall this week.
Peter Serkin, son of legendary master Rudolf Serkin, leads the series Friday night. Though he's driven a few audiences cuckoo with his strange choices in repertory and fondness for the avant-garde, he's never unprepared and plays with utmost elegance and taste. His choice of closers, Bach's Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D minor and Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata, arguably two of the most famous fugues ever written, showcase his intellect and power perfectly.
Saturday night, the handsome Norwegian wunderkind Leif Ove Andsnes pairs with pretty-boy English tenor Ian Bostridge-the most popular lieder singer in the world right now-performing songs by Beethoven and Schubert in the hall's smaller and more intimate downstairs space, Zankel Hall. Think of it as blue-eyed soul without the close vocal harmonies.
Sunday afternoon, the most respected living player of Chopin, Maurizio Pollini, interprets the Polish master, and Thursday evening Mitsuko Uchida, the world's greatest player of Mozart, plays his sonatas.
No, we're not in Kansas anymore-and thank goodness.