|
RECITAL REVIEW
Volodos in Recital Debut, The Complete Virtuoso
|
By William Wellborn
Staggering is the word to describe the Bay Area recital debut of
pianist Arcadi Volodos last Sunday in Hertz Hall at UC Berkeley. With an imaginative program that fully showed his varied talents, Volodos proved that he is a virtuoso in the most complete sense. He possesses a flawless technique capable of causing even the most jaded listener's jaw to drop. Ultimately more important, this technique is coupled with a poetic imagination and a deep-rooted musicality.
Even when he threatened to raise the rooftop with a thundering sonority, the tone was never harsh or banged, and in the softer moments the sound was projected with great warmth and beauty. His decision to perform with the piano lid closed proved to be a good one; Volodos is a big player, and much of his sound might have been turned into a roar in the intimate acoustics of Hertz Hall. One hopes that next year he will play in a larger space, such as Zellerbach or Davies halls.
The all-Russian first half of the program began with three late works of
Alexander Scriabin--"Enigme #2" from Three Pieces, op. 52, "Caresse dansée #2" from Two Pieces, op. 57, and the Sonata #10 op. 70. From the diaphanous sounds of the "Enigme" to the shivering trills of the 10th Sonata, Volodos ably captured the visionary sound world that is Scriabin.
After this unconventional and effective opening group came a set of
seven works by Sergei Rachmaninoff --4 Etudes-tableaux, the tumultuous Prelude in F Minor, op. 32 #6, and two rarities, the Fragments in A-Flat Major and the untitled Piece in D Minor. Both the Fragments and the Piece in D Minor were written in 1917. These pieces are seldom heard in concert, and Volodos' interpretation made me wonder why pianists have generally avoided them.
His playing of Rachmaninoff's better-known Etude in D Minor op. 39#8 was revelatory. This study in double notes [??] evoked haunting moments of nostalgia full of soulful longing. The Etude in C Minor, op. 33 #3 was originally withdrawn from the set by the composer and published posthumously in 1947. Here Volodos displayed a limpid singing tone and an exquisite control of the legato line. The set began with the roaring Etude in C-Sharp Minor, op. 33 #9 and ended with an exciting rendition of the ever-popular Etude in D Major, op. 39 #9.
The program's first half concluded with another seldom-heard gem, the
Nocturne in F Minor, "Le séparation," by Mikhail Glinka, providing another example of Volodos' singing tone. The pianist's biography states that in his earlier years, he studied both conducting and singing; the latter has no doubt influenced his vocal approach to the melodic line. Concluding the first half was Volodos' own "Variations on a theme from Glinka's 'Ruslan and Lyudmilla,'" which displayed the pianistic fireworks that have led some critics to compare Volodos to the young Vladimir Horowitz. Although the parallel is both flattering and appropriate, Volodos' playing stands as an achievement in its own right, needing no comparison to the older master.
Most of the second portion of the program was devoted to Robert Schumann's
"Bunte Blaetter" (Colored Leaves), 14 pieces written between the years
1838-1849. "Bunte Blaetter" as a whole does not sustain the same level of continuity and interest as Schumann's "Carnaval" or "Davidsbündlertänze." The first eight or nine pieces are clearly more inspired than the last third of this set. Volodos approached these miniatures with a wealth of detail that brought out Schumann's lyricism to the fullest, and he shaped repeated phrases with many colors and meanings. Yet even with Volodos' strong musical conviction, the "BunteBlätter" seemed over-long.
The printed program closed with two works of Franz Liszt, a nobly-phrased
reading of the "Consolation #6," and the "Hungarian Rhapsody #15," better known as the Rákóczy March. Volodos used Horowitz's arrangement of the work as a starting point and then added every imaginable kind of pianistic
trick, including double thirds, interlocking octaves, and a riot of inner voices. The result was pure showmanship, but the effect was astounding.
Five encores followed, and in the style of true Golden Age
pianism, most of them were Volodos' own transcriptions. A vertiginous
version of Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" was followed by a
glittering arrangement of Rachmaninoff's song "The Isle," op. 14 #2.
Still more fireworks appeared in the pianist's adaptation of
Mozart's "Rondo all Turca." Then came Horowitz's famous "Carmen" variations, again with a liberal sprinkling of Volodos' own touches.
Sunday's version was considerably different from the one he played last year in Davies Hall, albeit no less difficult or effective. A one-minute morsel of Scriabin finished this mammoth program.
My reaction to Volodos strikes me as similar to that of the critic Eduard Hanslick's to the legendary pianist Moriz Rosenthal upon the 1884 debut of his spectacular career: "Through many years of acquaintance with modern piano virtuosity I have almost forgotten what it is to be astonished, but I found young Rosenthal's achievements indeed astonishing. His technique scorns the most incredible difficulties, his strength the most inordinate demands."
If you love great piano playing and missed Sunday's concert take heart--this young virtuoso is only 25, and we will be hearing a lot more from him.
(Pianist William Wellborn performs and lectures in the United States and Europe, and from 1995-97 was host of the program "Piano Legacy" on San Francisco station KDFC. Wellborn is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory, where he teaches courses in piano, piano history, and opera.)
©1998 William Wellborn, all rights reserved
|