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RECITAL REVIEW Diverse Fruits from the 20th-Century Orchard October 27, 2002
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By Jerry Kuderna
Pianist William Corbett-Jones balanced two masterworks from the first half of the twentieth century with more recent works written for him in a recital on Sunday at San Francisco State. The breadth of his repertoire and outstanding musicianship once again showed how rich is the legacy of twentieth century piano music. Although still challenging, this music shows that what was once called contemporary can indeed become classic.
Bela Bartók's Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs provided an intriguing blend of almost expressionistic chromaticism with diatonic folk themes. The work captures the capricious and haunting quality of the themes by subjecting them to harmonic treatment that demands great subtlety of dynamics and rhythm. It is curious what pains the composer takes to achieve an improvisatory effect, especially with regard to tempo. So frequent are the changes of speed, subtle rubatos, accelerandi, etc. that the listener can easily feel lost. Most of the movements are connected, contributing a seamless flow to the music. Page turns can be a problem here. Corbett-Jones did manage to hold the piece together nicely even if he didn't always fully realize some effects as Bartók wrote them. At one point he used the pedal to connect two contrasting movements which are to be connected only by rests. The high point was a movement in memory of Debussy. It was full of nuance and beautifully colored playing.
One of the outstanding solo sonatas of the twentieth century, Paul Hindemith's Third Piano Sonata is obviously a work for which Mr. Corbett-Jones feels great affection. He was completely in tune with its quiet introspection, its manic humor, and its nobility leaning towards grandeur. I did find the tempo of the third movement a little too quick — played as if the pianist might have sensed the approaching final game of the World Series only an hour away — and this undercut its somber gravity somewhat. This was rectified with a blazing account of the concluding triple fugue, one of the great musical affirmations of our time.
The three remaining works were written expressly for Mr. Corbett-Jones. Of the two that I heard (I missed the Four Etudes by John Sharpley), Roger Nixon's Preludes (six from the set of twelve) were the more attractive. Each was a gem, exploring motivic and harmonic ideas with a sure sense of form. Idiomatically written for the instrument, they received ideal performances. This is the second time I have heard them and they bear repeated hearings well. Kirke Mechem's Sonata, Op. 26, concluded the program. His music also seems to be ingratiatingly written for the piano. The first Allegro con brio generates a lot of energy from dotted rhythms — a technique familiar from another famous Op. 26, the Sonata by Samuel Barber. The second movement begins intriguingly with bare octaves and blossoms into a movement of some beauty. The finale, also an Allegro con brio, promised more than it delivered. Several times there was a clear sense that a major event was imminent, but it never seemed to materialize.
(Jerry Kuderna is a pianist who teaches at Diablo Valley College.)
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