San Francisco Classical Voice

RECITAL REVIEW A Keyboard Wizard,
Fonder of Color
Than of Structure

March 30, 2001

By Vera Breheda

Everyone loves to hear Romantic expression in music, those moments where the performer dreams, lingers, and rushes forward with passionate abandon. But Romantic piano playing is more than subjective. It involves integrating structural elements of harmony and rhythm that hold a piece together, a framework in which Romantic expression can thrive and take flight. Lois Brandwynne gave a highly Romantic performance of mostly Romantic piano music Friday night at Old First Church in San Francisco, minus some of that integrating.

Schumann's Fantasie Op.17 and Chopin's Polonaise-Fantasie Op.61 were the high points. Brandwynne's interpretation of the Schumann Fantasie was strongest in its lyrical moments, when she brought genuine passion to the music, beautifully nuanced lyrical lines sustained over a seamless liquid left hand that had momentum and emotional urgency.

Her wonderful technical facility allows her to do almost anything with the music, and this she does. However, when the music is declamatory and rhetorical, certain mannerisms appear. Her phrasing is sometimes spontaneous, but often somewhat affected. A simpler, more direct approach to the melodic line would have been welcome in places. The movement ends with the theme from Beethoven's song cycle An die ferne Geliebte (To the Distant Beloved), and here the music, ethereal in quality, was beautifully paced, the theme repeating, now moving forward, now hesitating, the notes finally suspended over a series of tonic-dominant chords in juxtaposition.

A Wobbly "Arch," But A Brilliant Coda

The Fantasie's second movement, sometimes called "Triumphal Arch," with its heroic, march-like theme, was the least satisfying of the three movements. The structural cohesion that should unify all the sections wasn't there. Rhythmic momentum faltered in many places. Also baffling was a Brandwynne habit of hesitating before the downbeat in the chordal sections. On the other hand, the coda, with its famous leaps, was executed with utmost vitality, brilliance, and technical precision — mere child's play in Brandwynne's hands. The last movement, a serene meditation, was played with delicate lyricism, gradually becoming more impassioned as the music grows ever faster toward the end.

The last of Chopin's major piano works, the Polonaise-Fantasie Op. 61, has more Fantasie than Polonaise in it. Impatience and skittishness seem to characterize Brandwynne's interpretation of the improvisatory opening page. Although there were many beautifully phrased melodies, it wasn't enough to hold this sectional, multi-keyed piece together.

Beethoven Tied A Little Too Much
To the Barline?

In Beethoven's Thirty-Two Variations in C Minor, Brandwynne's often metronomic approach robbed the music of tension, excitement, and rhythmic vitality. Most apparent was a sagging feeling in the middle of each measure. This problem might have been eliminated by a phrasing based more on the harmonic and rhythmic tension of the eight-bar theme, with more motion toward the second beat of the measure. Otherwise, a persistent downbeat stress can kill momentum. The Thirty-Two Variations need to be played in the same tempo, with very little break or ritardando. Then you can experience the buildup of the melodic material as each variation spins out its increasingly intricate, longer, and faster rhythmic patterns.

One of the gems of the recital was Schubert's Impromptu in G-flat Major. Played sensitively and imaginatively, it spoke directly to the heart. As an encore, Brandwynne spun out Chopin's Prelude in G Major with effortless grace.

(Vera Breheda is a pianist who has performed in solo and chamber recitals throughout the Bay Area, the east coast, and Europe. A graduate of UC Berkeley and SUNY Stony Brook, she has taught at Indiana University at Bloomington, Diablo Valley College, and Los Medanos College.)