Four masters interpret American piano music
Vivacious Ambassador Kristie A. Kenney presented at the embassy ballroom four masters in a concert of contemporary American piano music. Ms. Kenney’s prefatory remarks stressed the universal appeal of music: Black, white, tall, short — all are music lovers.
The brilliant pianists, in order of performance, were Milton Ruben Laufer of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent, Chicago-born pianist-conductor Jeffery Meyer, Texas-born Roberta Rust of Euro-American-Sioux ancestry, and Canadian Jacques Despres.
Laufer opened the program with Gershwin’s Three Preludes. Despite Gershwin’s scant formal musical training, he used his inexhaustible reservoir of melodies to produce works of complex rhythms and modulations which remain novel, fresh and spontaneous. A musicologist observes, “their piquancy, wistfulness, charm and tenderness have not been dissipated by time”.
His Preludes are described thus: “Allegretto is of rhythmic interest, a marriage of the tango and the
Laufer’s rendering was audaciously vigorous and brisk, his changes of rhythm singularly abrupt as demanded Rotating Hexachords, flamboyantly treated by the pianist, showed its sixth intervals and six-note scales closely reflecting the title. A Grand Rag Tango — a world premiere performance — conveyed an infectiously danceable, pulsating drive.
The atonal, complex devices of Mario Davidovsky’s Synchronisms No. 6 were intensely and engrossingly interpreted by Jeffery Meyer. To prepare the audience for what was to follow, a record of Enrico Caruso singing Vesti la Guibba from Pagliacci was played, the tenor’s powerful, vibrant, luminous voice filling the hall. Later, a “touched up” version of the aria ensued, with choral singing and quaint perccusive effects added, thus meriting its title “Any Resemblance is Purely Coincidental”. This altered aria Meyer enhanced with a clever, fascinating and intriguing accompaniment composed by Charles Dodge, its whimsical chords, runs and clusters of notes resulting in a combined auditory experience that was intoxicatingly novel.
Roberta Rust demonstrated immense power, zest and artistic sensitivity in Michael Anderson’s atonal Sonata – Misterioso and Molto Legato. Her technical skill was particularly admirable in David Noon’s Three Etudes – Trills, The Left Hand Alone and Staccato — each piece closely hewing to its name in a highly challenging manner.
Noon (born 1946) and Anderson (born 1989) were the concert’s youngest composers Errol Garner’s nostalgic song “Misty” is so popular even to this day, I could hear my seat mate, Inquirer’s chair Marixi Prieto, humming it!
After acknowledging the rousing applause, Rust credited international pianist Jiovanney Emmanuel Cruz for bringing here the four pianists for the “Opusfest” Cruz organized.
Depres, the most senior of the performers, was the logical choice for the climactic ending: Debussy’s Golliwog Cakewalk from The Children’s Corner, Cequ’a vu le vent d’ouest (What the West Wind Saw) and Frederic Rzewiki’s virtousic Piano Piece No. 4.
Although Debussy is French, his works are Franco-Afro-American. “Children’s Corner was composed for Debussy’s little daughter Chouchou, and Depres captured with utter charm and simplicity a child’s world. West Wind suggested a howling hurricane with its devastating arpeggios and discords. In Piece No. 4, the surging, pounding, sweeping notes covering the entire keyboard left an electrified, “scorched” audience. Summing up, what a tremendous evening of music it was!
At concert’s end, Ms. Kenney proved the “scene stealer“ and “star” by playing with brio the opening of “Heart and Soul” accompanied by Laufer.
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