Rudolf Buchbinder
Great Performances: Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert
©2015 Marco Borggreve
Viennese pianist Rudolf Buchbinder is reaching another milestone this summer: for the 49th time in his career, he will perform all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas. He’ll accomplish this at the Edinburgh International Festival, in nine sold-out concerts held at Edinburgh University’s intimate 18th-century Playfair Library, between August 8 and August 26.
His third festival performance on August 10 culminated with the Sonata in B flat Op 106 “Hammerklavier” and shook up the Herald Scotland reviewer:
“On Monday night, the elegant interior of the Playfair Library, and probably the surrounding grounds of Old College on South Bridge, were subjected to a roar of volcanic excitement such as the area has probably never witnessed in its distinguished history. It was a nerve-shaking eruption of sound, almost physical in its impact.”
The Guardian reviewer Kate Molleson was similarly moved by Buchbinder that evening, writing “He left barely a breath between sonatas, let alone movements, and hurtled through most of it at fearless speeds. The brio was impressive and very bracing…”
Molleson got to interview Buchbinder at his home in Vienna prior to the festival. He freely admitted how moved he is by Beethoven each time, telling her, “in every sonata there is some part where the tears come. I am never finished with this music. I learn every time. It is a challenge every time.”
He will perform the complete sonatas for the 50th time in Vienna in the fall. Other pianists known for performing and recording Beethoven’s complete sonatas include Claudio Arrau León, Wilhelm Kempff and Daniel Barenboim.
Prior to his Edinburgh festival dates, Buchbinder joined in the Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert in May to perform works by Edvard Grieg, Alfred Grünfeldt and more. Great Performances is proud to broadcast the performance, conducted by Zubin Mehta, on Friday, August 28 at 9 pm (check local listings).
Enjoy an excerpt of the Vienna Philharmonic and Rudolf Buchbinder performing Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 16.