San Francisco Classical Voice

Pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, now well beyond the "rising star" stage in her career, presented a mostly mainstream program at Herbst Theater last Thursday evening. Her rhythmic energy was palpable as she entered the stage, and the playing that followed was more than simply energized. This was a remarkable burst, an external manifestation of all that she internally contained at that musical moment.

In the Bach English Suite in A minor, BWV 807, McDermott was disinterested in either caution or polite correctness. The tempo of the Prelude was breathtaking without seeming nervous, and the character of the subsequent dance movements was vividly differentiated. The emotional center of the suite is the sublime Sarabande, and McDermott played it in a heartfelt manner. The Bourees that followed were vigorous and rustic. Although it never lost clarity, the Gigue was too fast, hyper-energized, (lacking) as it lacked a fundamental dance feeling.

McDermott neither intellectualized nor genuflected through the Suite. Thought-provoking, bold and individualistic Bach playing emerged from her basic trust of instinctive musical responses. To call this "romantic" playing would be to trivialize the core musical values that informed her performance. For example, her treatment of the short cadenza-like phrase that precedes the final return of the subject in the Prelude, while too thickly textured, was compellingly dramatic. (compelling drama) Her success in sustaining an extended long line in that first movement makes stylistic quibbles superfluous.

It is difficult to believe that Beethoven wrote the 32 Variations on an Original Theme in 1806, the same year as his fourth piano concerto. McDermott played with much color and affect in an effort to sustain audience interest, but the four-squareness of the piece was insurmountable. Even Beethoven himself expressed regrets about the Variations several years after he had composed it. The charming and masterful middle-period sonata in Eb Major, Op. 31, No. 3, however, was felicitious (ly) playful and witty, never cliched or cumbersome.

The Chopin Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58, which followed intermission, was the centerpiece of the program. McDermott's deeply communicative playing held the audience in silent, rapt attention. A purity of sound and sense of unfailing artistry pervaded the entire performance.

These past weeks in local recitals, there have been at least five transcriptions performed by distinguished pianists. McDermott added to this list, playing the unpublished "Soiree de Vienna" in Db Major, based on Strauss' "Die Fledermaus" and arranged by turn-of-the-19th century virtuoso Arthur Grunfeld. More than a mere patchwork of note spinning, this piece was an absolute delight and impeccably paced. It was an unexpected program closer, replacing the programmed Rachmaninoff transcriptions of pieces by Kreisler.

The final encore, following the rapid-transit Moskowski Etude in F Major, was Liszt's transcription of the Schumann song "Widmung." McDermott played it with genuine sentiment.

Anne-Marie McDermott is now a fully established artist with an uncommon audience rapport. The trajectory of her career appears to be straight up, and not on the rocks. There would be musical rewards for her--and her programming would be even more satisfying---if she would present music of her time. Her time is now.

(John McCarthy is a pianist and teacher. He is Director of Preparatory and Extension Divisions at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.)

©1998 John McCarthy, all rights reserved