|
RECITAL REVIEW
Spector, Formidable Pianist, with Lapses
|
By Sarah Cahill
Lisa Spector is a puzzling pianist. Her technical apparatus is formidable,
and most of the time she takes advantage of it. But she alternates effortless
pyrotechnic wizardry with fumbles and memory lapses, a gorgeous tone with a
brittle sound. In her Friday, September 18 recital in the Old First Church Concerts
series (the opening of its five-concert Fall Piano Fest), she tackled a
program of Schubert, Chopin, Villa-Lobos, and Beach. She was breathtaking at
her best, and her mistakes strangely did not come at the most difficult points
in the music.
The "A" and "B" sections of Schubert's Impromptu op. 90 no. 2 in E-flat major
cleanly showed the two aspects of Spector's playing. She opened the piece
perfectly, with gossamer-light downward scales, hesitating slightly at their
peaks for a vertiginous lift. But then the central section rushed along
harshly. Similarly, the Impromptu op. 142 no. 3 in B-flat major began with a
vibrant tone that brought out the richness of Old First's handsome Steinway.
Then the first and second variations seemed to collapse, the melody lost
within figuration. Schubert gives the pianist so much to savor in these
variations, but Spector seemed anxious to move on. Certain moments, though,
were intoxicating: the last variation sparkled flawlessly.
Spector's passion for Romantic works came through with two Chopin pieces.
Discreet rubato and special attention to sighing motifs created an especially
poignant version of the Mazurka op. 17 no. 4 in A minor. In the improvisatory
opening bars of the Polonaise-Fantasie op. 61, Spector filled the hall with
ascending arpeggios that seemed to bloom out of resonating low chords. When
she came to the central Poco piu lento section, she relaxed the pace and her
phrasing became marvelously elastic. But she didn't always allow time to
explore the fantasy realm so essential to this piece. As the piece builds up
speed, she shook out brilliant runs of sixteenth notes like so many droplets
from her fingers, but the thorny coda sounded just beyond her reach.
In Villa-Lobos' Suite Floral op. 97, the central "Uma Camponeza Cantaderia"
("A Singing Country Girl") was ravishing. Spector's virtuosic flair came
through in the cascades of octaves of the first "Idilio Na Rede" ("Summer
Idyll") "Alegria Na Horta" ("Joy in the Garden") shimmered with vitriolic
wit, but again Spector seemed to lapse in and out of involvement with the
music.
Spector told the audience that Mrs. H.H.A. Beach used that name for
composing, and Amy Beach was her stage name as a pianist. Both identities
shone through in both "Dreaming" from Sketches op. 15 and Variations on Balkan
Themes op. 60: this is clearly music composed for a virtuoso in the romantic
tradition. Spector brought an impressionistic weightlessness and a singing
upper line to "Dreaming."
The Variations is a hefty piece, spanning a range
of genres from whirling gypsy dances to songful tunes. Spector handled it all
masterfully: high points were the rich contrapuntal writing in the first
variation, the third variation's fingerbuster pyrotechnics, and a well-paced
extended crescendo in the central funeral march. Especially gratifying was
the fact that Spector had obviously put as much work and dedication into
Beach's lesser-known music as she had put into Schubert and Chopin.
(Sarah Cahill is a pianist and a music critic for the Express, and hosts a
music show on KPFA (94.1 FM) every Friday from 10 am to noon.)
©1998 Sarah Cahill, all rights reserved
|
