Pianist Helfgott Delivers a Passable Rachmaninoff

On the way to the piano, instead of merely walking past the orchestra, he rushed through the first violin section, touching some of the players, hugging others, greeting them all. Then, in the heat of pre-concerto excitement, David Helfgott quickly kissed two of the fiddlers, finally planting a healthy buss on concertmaster Bruce Dukov.

Monday nights at Hollywood Bowl are seldom as oddball as this. There was the evening, three years ago, when another pianist planned to play Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto. That night, Van Cliburn came out onstage after intermission and announced he would play short solo pieces instead.

But David Helfgott this week kept his promise.

In only his second U.S. performance of Rachmaninoff’s Third (some of us consider the “Rach 3” appellation tacky), the controversial Australian pianist played the piece straight through, only sometimes sabotaging his performance with moaning vocal noises that drowned out the piano playing.

And Helfgott played it acceptably--acceptably if one forgets the high gloss most working virtuosos strive for in this huge pianistic challenge. Acceptably if one does not expect the accumulated tensions in the opening movement to crest on the monumental cadenza. Acceptably if one does not demand the broadest possible spectrum of keyboard dynamics and colors that several generations of memorable pianists have produced with this work. But acceptably.

As was revealed in his recital appearances in the Southland in March and April, Helfgott’s playing is limited in scope, dynamics and focus. But it can succeed on the mechanical level, and it can even broadcast a certain musicality, as he shapes phrases and moves from thought to thought. With the considerable assistance and finesse of conductor William Eddins and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Helfgott’s run-through of the Third Concerto was largely uneventful, if perfectly undistinguished.

But it delighted the audience. The nearly 18,000-seat Bowl was just about half-filled, with attendance placed at 8,848--a typical crowd for a weeknight. (In his four sold-out recitals, two at the Music Center and two at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, attendance was tallied at 12,000 total.) And the crowd didn’t need to be won over. They greeted him on their feet and cheered him on. Dressed in dark pants and his trademark, blousy white shirt, the 50-year-old musician, whose edited life became an award-winning film in “Shine,” seemed hungry for approval but in no way lacked confidence.

After the concerto and multiple bows, there were flowers for pianist and conductor. Helfgott then played a solo encore in Gottschalk’s “Pasquinade.”

Earlier in the evening, the warmup proved surprising in its clarity and brightness. Eddins led the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra deftly through three Russian pops staples: Shostakovich’s “Festive” Overture, Tchaikovsky’s “Capriccio Italien” and the Polovtsian Dances from “Prince Igor” by Borodin; the ensemble played brilliantly. The young conductor may not specialize in colorful details or musical subtleties, but he can whip up an orchestral climax, and the band seemed more than willing to give him that, in abundance.