Shostakovich Piano Concerto with Nobu
Philharmonia Orchestra
Conductor: Xian Xhang
Piano: Nobuyuki Tsujii
Royal Festival Hall, 05 November 2026
It was firework night and there were plenty of those inside the Royal Festival Hall as the remarkable Nobuyuki Tsujii (Nobu) played Shostakovich’s second piano concerto. A performance of such energy and tenderness would be special whoever played it. But Nobu has been blind from birth (assisted on and off the platform by smiling, practical Xian Zhang) and it is a mystery to most of us how he can do this so perfectly while unable to see the conductor – or, for that matter, how he learns work without being able to see sheet music. I have marvelled at this each time I’ve seen him live.
It’s a youthful, almost frenetic concerto, especially in the outer movements, written in 1957 for the composer’s son Maxim whom I am old enough to have seen conducting in London in 1970. Nobu’s arresting, almost abrupt, attack on the opening Allegro sparkled. He then found moving lyricism – such a contrast – in the Andante to which Zhang and the orchestra provided a gentle, perfectly judged, accompaniment. And finally to the sunny uplands of the final allegro with its relentless tuneful rhythms – heightened by some gloriously percussive string work and exciting snare drum playing.
For his encore Nobu burst into a manically virtuosic jazzy piece which I didn’t recognise – possible more Shostokovich. Then came a complete mood change in a deliciously gentle account of Elgar’s Salut D’Amour for the second encore. He really is an extraordinary player. And Zhang is a fine conductor – delightfully free of maestro-style airs and graces. During these encores she sat casually on the step near the celeste to listen.
All this was preceded by Nokuthula Ngwenyama’s Primal Message (2020) which is scored for full strings, including eight double basses, harp, percussion and celeste. Sounding very much like film music, it includes an attractive string quintet passage and a lot of lush string playing.
After the interval came some of the most colourfully evocative ballet music ever written – six excerpts from Prokofofiev’s Romeo and Juliet (1935-36). And, my goodness Xhang and the Philharmonia played it with panache from the discords and tensions of the Montagues and Capulets section, incisively controlled with lots of highlighted detail including terrific tuba work to the poignant intensity of the graveside scene – portentous trombones and a nicely delivered cor anglais solo. And the heavy bass chords which signal the death of Tybalt were so arresting I dropped my pen – unable not to visualise the hideously chilling thing Matthew Bourne does with those chords in his version of the ballet.
Plenty of musical drama characterised this enjoyable – unusually short but none the worse for that – concert.
