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RECITAL REVIEW
March 3, 2007
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Heady Playing, With Heart By John McCarthy
On Saturday evening, the crowd in Herbst Theatre buzzed with excitement as it awaited the San Francisco solo debut of 26-year-old pianist Jonathan Biss, courtesy of San Francisco Performances. Already a major presence, Biss has given highly touted concerto performances with the San Francisco Symphony in recent seasons. While he is not unknown to Bay Area audiences, it was nonetheless a thrill to experience this shining young star for whom music counts for everything.
The opening of the Mozart Sonata in F Major (K. 533) sounded a bit taut. Only at the repeat of the exposition did the artist start to breathe, adjusting to the hall and the piano. Although never forcing and while well organized, Biss somehow did not fully pull the listener into the drama of the musical moment. His technical ease actually began to distract, and seemed almost an end unto itself.
But in the second movement, marked Andante, the pianist's lyrical gifts and sensitive pitch inflection allowed the music to speak. After an extraordinary and complex middle section, a great sense of repose was felt in the return to the main material. There Biss displayed a promise of greatness, of asking eternal questions. The following rondo (marked Allegro ma non troppo) sounded graceful, with a drawing-room quality, and was ideally paced after the depths of the second movement. Biss used no compensatory theatrics or glitter, but instead let the music remain simple and innocent.
It was genuinely brilliant of him to program Webern's Variations (Op. 27) after the Mozart's quiet close. Compact and concentrated, this music does not make for easy listening. Performances of it are rarely heard on the concert stage these days. Its mirrorlike symmetry, as achieved by Biss, was so clear as to be almost visible. In particular, the devilishly difficult second movement (Sehr schnell) was a model of control at the service of the music's character. Alhough the playing was always balanced, I still longed to hear a bit of Viennese flavor in the mix, to warm things up and transcend both structure and abstraction. After Biss' success with the Webern, I felt disappointed not to hear George Perle's Ballade, which had been announced at the beginning of the season. Beethoven's Sonata in D Major, Op. 28 ("Pastoral"), was performed with a relaxed ease in the outer movements, framing the emotional centerpiece of the piece, the Andante second movement. Again, Biss' gifts for balance and subtle nuance shone forth, and he communicated an overarching awareness of the whole. After intermission, Biss tackled the Kreisleriana, Op. 16, of Robert Schumann and played with great discernment. In a letter to Clara Wieck, the composer mentions an "utterly wild love" that he felt was reflected in some passages. Although his playing was never quite utterly wild, Biss performed with emotional connection throughout, if not with total identification with the music. Still, this was heady playing that touched the heart with both selfless artistry and stunning pianism. Jonathan Biss found an unerring way to the essence of each of the work's eight movements. The shifting and extreme emotions of Schumann in his 20s, with his passion for Clara and his mental illness right around the corner, invites rhythmic impulsivity, which Biss pulled off without losing a certain élan. This was engrossing playing, with a feeling of musical rightness from start to finish.
(John McCarthy is a pianist and teacher. He is director of preparatory and extension divisions at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.)
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