Maria João Pires born in Lisbon, Portugal, 23 July 1944 is a Portuguese pianist.
With spirited support from the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Bernard Haitink’s direction, Pires’s performance was flawless and serene. There was a bloom on her notes as she announced the opening theme, her articulation was pellucid, and her passage-work delicately expressive. Her solos in the plangently lilting Adagio seemed to float in space, and the right-hand runs in the finale were pearlised. The cadenza she played was Mozart’s own, nothing tricksy, just a gentle reinforcement of what had gone before. Fray’s audience had gladly let him go without an encore; Pires didn’t play one either, to the evident disappointment of her fans. Haitink and the COE concluded the evening with a majestic account of Schubert’s ‘Great’ C major symphony.
