Mitsuko Uchida’s Usher Hall programme a tour de force

Facile was the word attached to two of the works in pianist Mitsuko Uchida’s Usher Hall programme. “Simple” adequately describes Mozart’s K545 sonata, the nickname given posthumously and even the composer described it as a “little sonata for a beginner”.

Simplistic is not a term I’d associate with Jorg Widmann’s Sonatine Facile, written as homage to the K545. It’s frenetic and complex with the composer’s new mixing with Mozart’s old. Nothing blue, but certainly something borrowed, in the shape of some brief but intact snatches from the sonata. It’s fair to say it is the polar opposite of simplicity, and it needed every ounce of Ushida’s incredible skills to come to terms with it. I’d like to hear more from this composer, but pure unadulterated Widmann and not something attributed to another composer, effective though the work might have been.

The uncomplicated nature of the Mozart sonata doesn’t mean it is bland and unappetising. Neither does its comparative brevity mean it’s a throwaway piece. There was a delightful lightness of touch in Ushida’s approach and she made the middle movement sing. Her approach dictated delicacy and instead of a final two fortissimo chords, she ended in serenity and calm.

The two other works, Schumann’s Kreisleriana and his C major Fantasy, called for a more dynamic approach, a swift change of gear into deep romanticism. I thought she launched into the opening movement of the former in brilliant fashion and the alternating slow/fast (langsam/lebhaft) meant huge canvases of colour, mood and texture that was brought out by the pianist in marvellous fashion.

Likewise in the Fantasy. Swathes of chords and sweeping passages made the work into quite a tour de force.