|
RECITAL REVIEW
Murray Perahia March 5, 2007
|
Poetic Illumination Without Flash By Anatole Leikin
Murray Perahia can hardly be described as a flamboyant cult figure swamped by throngs of fanatical followers. But the seriousness of his treatment of the musical score, the unfailing attention to detail, and the winsome warmth of his sound command enormous respect. These qualities were in abundance in Perahia’s Davies Hall solo recital last Monday. Deliberately devoid of flashy extravagance, his superbly balanced playing was a class act.
Yet his precisely planned and masterfully delivered execution did not come without a price. Perahia’s reluctance to push the envelope and take certain interpretative risks left me with a slight sense of dissatisfaction. Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op. 12, titled “Restless Dreams” (Traumes wirren), was so elegant, its dizzying whirls of sixteenths so exquisitely shaded, that it was difficult to imagine a finer performance. The lyrical moments, such as “In the Evening “ (Des Abends), also soared, but “Soaring” (Aufschwung) did not. This piece, as well as “In the Night” (In der Nacht), were too well-balanced. Schumann’s feverish excitement was lacking, and in most of the anguished episodes, the music was simply not manic enough.
Beethoven’s Sonata in D Major, Op. 28 (“Pastoral”), on the other hand, meshed with Perahia’s personal style more snugly. The persuasive gentleness of his delivery was irresistible. With thoughtful deliberation, he illuminated the most intricate aspects of the form and constructed a clear and cohesive architectural masterpiece, crowning it with a brilliant coda in the finale.
I, however, anticipated more from a pianist of Perahia’s caliber, one who is slated to edit Beethoven’s complete sonatas for the definitive Henle Urtext sheet-music edition. Beethoven’s phrasing is painstakingly detailed, and when you follow the composer’s directions, all the melodic gestures acquire a special, speechlike expressiveness. In my view, Perahia compromised. He chose to follow a style that is more conventional today, with longer and less whimsical phrases. As a result, some of Beethoven’s rhetorical bite was lost.
Another large work of the evening was Chopin’s Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 52. Many pianists, regrettably, turn its undulating barcarole-flavored opening into a trifling waltz, but Perahia conveyed the ballade’s improvisatory spirit effortlessly. He approached it with his characteristic intelligence and sensitivity, imbuing the music with a subtle rubato and a fine balancing of textures. Once again, knowing that Perahia produced and edited the recently released recordings of Alfred Cortot’s master classes, I expected to hear more. The ballade happened to be among the compositions that Cortot demonstrated in his master classes; earlier he had also recorded it in its entirety. Cortot’s interpretation is stunningly imaginative, at once sheer poetry and high drama. To be sure, the freedom of his expression may appear controversial today, and it is understandable that Perahia may have wanted to avoid such a reaction. But I was still hoping to hear a much bolder, more cataclysmic account. Perahia opened the program with an eloquent reading of Bach’s Partita No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 826, and closed it with two masterfully burnished encores: Schubert’s Impromptu in E-flat Major and Chopin’s F-Major Nocturne from the Op. 15 set. Interestingly, the latter piece sounded more eventful than the ballade. (Anatole Leikin is professor of music at UC Santa Cruz. His articles have appeared in various musicological journals and essay collections, and he has recorded the piano music of Chopin and Scriabin. He also serves as an editor for The Complete Chopin — A New Critical Edition and he is writing a book about Scriabin’s performing style.)
|
