Never ask the conductor, always ask the pianist.
That's the conventional wisdom among orchestra players when questions come up about the score of a piano concerto. This is partly because the pianist has performed the piece many more times than the conductor. But it's also a result of the nature of the instrument. Unlike the violin or the cello, the piano is an instrument capable of playing harmony as well as melody.
Moreover, the comprehensive knowledge of a concerto most pianists have is inculcated by the nature of the solo recital. Unlike other instrumentalists -- who need to be accompanied -- solo pianists are responsible for everything.
But it is impossible to imagine anyone saying, "Never ask the conductor," at Cleveland's Severance Hall when conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy, pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the Cleveland Orchestra perform and record Rachmaninoff's four piano concertos and "Paganini Rhapsody."
That's not because Thibaudet doesn't know the score -- his eloquent playing in the recently issued Piano Concerto No. 2 and "Paganini Rhapsody" (London 440 653-2) demonstrates otherwise -- but because of Ashkenazy's unmatched identification with this music.
The celebrated pianist-turned-conductor has recorded the Rachmaninoff concertos more frequently than any other pianist -- two recordings each of the First Concerto, Fourth Concerto and "Rhapsody"; three recordings of the Second Concerto; and four recordings of the Third Concerto.
So it must be strange for Ashkenazy to conduct pieces that he knows better than any pianist in history -- save the composer himself -- for someone else.
"Please, it's very enjoyable," the conductor says, his denial punctuated by laughter. "First of all, it's always easier to conduct hTC than to play -- especially when you're conducting the Cleveland Orchestra. Secondly -- and this is not to say that I didn't get some fine accompaniments -- I like giving to another pianist what I always imagined I wanted."
Thirty years ago, Ashkenazy was bitten by the conducting bug when he conducted for another pianist. He and a friend, the late pianist Malcolm Frager, were touring Europe together, giving two-piano recitals and performing different concertos on the same program. In one city, the scheduled conductor became too ill to lead the orchestra. Although neither man had -- except in their student days -- conducted before, Ashkenazy persuaded the reluctant Frager that they should conduct for each other.
"He accompanied me in the Schumann Concerto, and I accompanied him in Beethoven's First Concerto," Frager once recalled. "I hated doing it and was a terrible partner; Vova [Ashkenazy] loved it and gave me a wonderful accompaniment."
Ashkenazy's current accompaniments of Thibaudet in the Second Concerto and "Paganini Rhapsody" are indeed among the best ever recorded. Ashkenazy's opening in the "Rhapsody" explodes at the gate and catapults the listener to the entrance of the soloist, spotlighting him in a way any pianist would envy.
Ashkenazy's collaboration sometimes even succeeds in making the young Frenchman sound better than he is. One instance is the 18th variation, where Thibaudet breaks the line in an effort to "interpret" this famously heartbreaking passage. With a less inspired (and attentive) conductor, the pianist might have sounded contrived. But Ashkenazy's romantic sweep and sense flow -- he sustains long note values to create a much longer line -- makes the performance powerfully affecting rather than merely affected.
Indeed, there are occasions -- most of them occurring when the )) orchestra is momentarily silent -- when one wishes the pianist were Ashkenazy. One of them is Thibaudet's unaccompanied entrance at the opening of the Second Concerto, where his uninflected playing cannot help but make one miss the way Ashkenazy rolls the chords, makes subtle gradations in rhythm and dynamics and gives the treble notes a plangent quality that makes most listeners feel they are listening to a great singer.
"There are some things he does that I would have done differently," Ashkenazy admits. "But it's a pleasure to work with someone who can really play the instrument -- and Jean-Yves can. He's been very open to suggestions that I make, but I'm not so arrogant that I think I know the only way to play these pieces. Everyone has to have his own individuality. The world is full of variety, and I like that."
POWER PLAYS
To hear excerpts of Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the Cleveland Orchestra, call Sundial, The Sun's telephone information service, (410) 783-1800. In Anne Arundel County, call (410) 268-7736; in Harford County, (410) 836-5028; in Carroll County, (410) 848-0338. Using a touch-tone phone, punch in the four-digit code 6190 after you hear the greeting.