This carefully curated program, presenting a journey from darkness to light, opened with music by Juho Pohjonen’s fellow Finn, Jyrki Linjama. Merging the spiritual with the secular, the bright, lightly dissonant opus begins with gently rolling figures in the right-hand and rising bell-like sounds in the left. Sustaining a soft, pulsating rhythm throughout, it smoothly blends in a quotation from the Et incarnatus est section of Bach’s B-minor Mass. In Pohjonen’s elegant hands, the mediative setting evoked a feeling of timelessness and functioned well as an introduction to Scriabin’s emotionally evocative Sonata No.6. With his highly nuanced touch the pianist perfectly captured the enigmatic qualities of the Russian mystic’s intense, unpredictable music while maintaining precise control over its complex harmonies, wide leaps and whirlwind configurations. The performance left the listener feeling uneasy and at the same time spellbound by the dark and dreamlike atmosphere.
After Scriabin, Liszt’s work known as the ‘Dante Sonata’. Based on The Divine Comedy, the virtuosic creation,part of the composer’s ‘Années de pèlerinage’ cycle, compresses the whole of the poem’s epic journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise into a single movement. Pohjonen delivered an energetic and powerful account, highlighting the dramatic shifts in mood through highly nuanced phrasing and dynamic changes. Moving from the hellish sounds signifying the wailing of the damned in the chaotic inferno to the blissful chorale representing the joy of those in Heaven was an uncommonly intense experience.
The evening assumed a brighter atmosphere throughout the second half, opening with Beethoven’s Sonata in E-flat, a work overshadowed by its companion piece, the ‘Moonlight’ Sonata. Displaying great sensitivity, Pohjonen ably captured the many changes in mood, such as in the opening Andante where the lullaby-like theme abruptly transitions into an exuberant dash in a new meter. The recital progressed with Scriabin’s voluptuous and ecstatic ‘White Mass’ Sonata. Replete with fanfares, complex counterpoint, violent contrasts and rippling arpeggios, it was beautifully played and most readily enjoyed by simply abandoning oneself to the extraordinary sounds. Finally, Pohjonen’s delicate touch and precise phrasing perfectly captured the sense of mystical reverence in the Messiaen,ending the musical excursion in an appropriately bright and thoughtful manner.
There was an encore, a warmly expressive rendition of Grieg’s ‘To Spring’ from Lyric Pieces, Op.43.
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