Pianist relishes romance of Rota

Christopher Hunterhuber wants to share his admiration for Nino Rota who scored The Godfather. Photo / Supplied

I first came across Christopher Hinterhuber a few years back, sharing a keyboard with Rico Gulda, son of the late Friedrich Gulda, on a captivating Naxos recording of Schubert works for piano duet.

Now a Naxos regular, the Austrian pianist has cemented his reputation with a still-continuing cycle of Ferdinand Ries piano concertos, some of which have been recorded here with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra under Uwe Grodd.

This week Hinterhuber is in Auckland, playing a curious concerto with Manukau Symphony Orchestra - the Second Piano Concerto of Nino Rota, a composer best known for his scores for Fellini movies and The Godfather.

Hinterhuber relishes the unfamiliar. "It's essential to have fresh input."

His first taste of Nino Rota's music came while studying in Italy. He attended a masterclass by Riccardo Muti, who was conducting a recording of the two Rota concertos with pianist Giorgia Tomassi. The Second Concerto caught his ear.

"It's really romantic, even though it was written in 1979. Rota was a stylistic chameleon. The first movement looks to the world of Rachmaninov but the last movement could be Prokofiev."

Above all, he is adamant Rota should not be written off as a mere "film composer", after recently coming across some intriguing chamber scores on the European festival circuit.

One senses this patient pianist has become accustomed to defending the music of Ferdinand Ries (1784-1838) against those who write Ries off as a pale echo of the greater Beethoven.

"Ries really had something to say. Unfortunately he ended up being mainly known for having written Beethoven's biography and is often just referred to as Beethoven's pupil or, even worse, Beethoven's assistant.

"This has unjustly affected Ries' reputation as a composer."

But there is more to be revealed about the man. "Ries wasn't such a stable person," Hinterhuber says. "He spent a lot of time running away from the French Army which would have conscripted him and he was blind in the left eye from birth. These days, we would probably say that he suffered from low self-esteem."

The most recent instalment of the Ries project has Hinterhuber and conductor Grodd with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in a set of flamboyant works with English associations, written to mark Ries' retirement from the concert stage.

The major work is the Piano Concerto Op 132, the juiciest a glittering set of variations on Rule Britannia.

"Ries really wanted to impress," Hinterhuber explains. "Maybe the cadenzas are too long, but he was a great improviser. People at the time described his playing as fantastic and spontaneous and that has to be the goal any pianist aims at when doing them."

Needless to say, on disc, Hinterhuber does not disappoint.

The Austrian pianist has several engagements coming up with Uwe Grodd this week.

A chamber music evening on Wednesday is centred around Hummel's Schone Minka variations in which Hinterhuber and flautist Grodd will be joined by cellist Martin Rummel and Grodd will be conducting the two MSO concerts.

As a conductor, it is Grodd's attention to detail Hinterhuber particularly appreciates. "You have to be so careful preparing the scores as there are quite a few mistakes in the old editions.

"And while some conductors, some quite famous, are alarmingly casual these days, Uwe never leaves anything to chance."

In Vienna, Hinterhuber's home city, "some musicians think they know everything about Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven because they're 'our' composers. It is one thing to preserve a tradition, but you have to look deeply into the music for fresh revelations."

On Monday Hinterhuber will meet some young pianists in a masterclass at Auckland University and he is looking forward to it.

Performance

What: Manukau Symphony Orchestra, with Christopher Hinterhuber
Where and when: TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre, tonight at 7.30pm, tomorrow at 2.30pm
What: Christopher Hinterhuber masterclass
Where and when: Auckland University Music Theatre, 6 Symonds St, Monday at 8pm
What: Schone Minka
Where and when: Auckland University Music Theatre, Wednesday at 8pm
On disc: Ferdinand Ries, Piano Concerto Op 132 (Naxos)