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RECITAL REVIEW
Superb Skills, Varied Program January 13, 2002
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By Scott Cmiel
Franco Platino offered a program of music inspired by Nicoló Paganini
in
an unusually thoughtful and cohesive debut in Herbst Theatre on Sunday
evening. The single Paganini composition of the program, Capriccio Op. 1
#24,
following the intermission, served as the centerpiece of a series of
related works by J. S. Bach, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, George Rochberg
and
Francisco Tárrega.
Bach's Chaconne can make us think of Paganini's Capriccio by
virtue of
the heroic demands it places upon a performer, and yet it is an
incomparably
more profound work. Pacing is paramount in this extraordinarily long
series
of variations in which Bach unifies large amounts of music with single
ideas. The pacing balances the intensification of some musical elements with
the relaxation of others to create the illusion of an almost continually
increasing
intensity.
Platino used color, dynamics and an exquisite sense of timing to
bring out the increasing chromaticism, melodic span and rhythmic values of
the opening. The daunting thirty-second-note scales were effortlessly
executed and the transition to the internal major-key section was
exquisite.
Platino is a skilled yet self-effacing performer with an excellent sense
of
musical structure. His was an exemplary Chaconne performance.
It was refreshing to hear Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Capriccio Diabolico (Omaggio a Paganini). Like much of the music written for the Spanish guitarist Andres Segovia, this has been seldom heard in recent years and deserves a reappraisal. The dark and forceful outer section both alludes to Paganini's heroic approach to the violin and at the same time remains true to the aristocratic and personal style of Castelnuovo-Tedesco. The programming made the structure of a darkly-hued outer section surrounding a more gentle major-mode section give an unexpected allusion to the Bach Chaconne. Platino played with a lush tone and bravado approach reminiscent of Segovia. George Rochberg's Caprice Variations on Paganini's Capriccio No. 24, Op. 1 is a tour-de-force which takes over an hour to perform in its entirety. For this kaleidoscopic adventure in fifty-one variations — in a wide range of styles reminiscent of Baroque, Classical, Romantic and 20th-Century composers — the composer suggests that each performer is free to determine the number and order of variations to be played on any given occasion. The set chosen by Platino evoked themes from Schubert's Waltz, Op. 9 #22, Beethoven's Symphony #7 Finale, Brahms' Op. 35 Book 1 #11, and Mahler's Symphony #5 Scherzo, as well as other less well-defined styles. Caprice Variations seemed disjunct and episodic, perhaps an unavoidable consequence of the form, but Platino's playing captured the widely contrasting moods of each variation, heroic, eerie, languid, ferocious, fantastic and humorous in turn. Francisco Tárrega's Variations on a Theme by Paganini is based on a well-known melody from Paganini's Carnival of Venice. Platino infused just a touch of irony in the sentimental tremolo passages, elicited quiet audience laughter with the descending glissandi passages and in general showed considerable skill in making an essentially trivial gloss on the trivial an enjoyable experience. (Scott Cmiel is a guitarist on the faculties of the San Francisco Conservatory and the University of California, Berkeley, SCmiel@aol.com ) ©2002 Scott Cmiel, all rights reserved |