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The fifth annual Miami International Piano Festival of Discovery
had its "gala" opening at the Broward Center's Amaturo Theater
on Thursday night. Featuring Italian pianists Pietro De Maria
and Francesco Libetta, the program combined a major work for
each soloist and three compositions for two pianos.
Schumann's Carnival is an imaginative portrait of some of
the composer's friends, and a revealing essay portraying both
the idealistic dreamer and the fearless fighter sides of his
personality. His bride to be, Clara Wieck, is deftly etched
in a Passionato section.
In an attempt to capture the full spirit of the work, De
Maria concentrated on the dreamier aspects by utilizing slow
tempos and considerable rubato in the more reflective episodes,
while the faster sections were combative and pushed to the
limit. This was a youthful performance in which superlative
technique, mostly free of artifice, was put to the service
of the music.
In the virtuosic Paganini Variations by Brahms, Libetta exhibited
spellbinding logic and breathtaking control. Inspired by the
brilliant technique of Liszt pupil Karl Tausig, Brahms produced
one of the most demanding works in the piano repertory. There
were no terrors for Libetta, who plunged in and came up for
air only at the end. In the duo piano part of the program,
both pianists proved thoroughly engaging in Mozart's Sonata
in D, K448, holding the dynamics within Mozartian proportions.
The team played with subtlety and great unanimity, with neither
artist attempting to dominate the texture.
An original composition titled Four Souls was written by
Libetta in homage to the late critic John Ardoin, a biographer
of Maria Callas. Libetta sought to capture the spirit of four
Callas roles: Turandot, Violetta, Norma and Medea. The composer
has stated that "the score quotes no themes from any of the
four operas. Instead, it freely recalls their sonorities and
their composer's styles," but this recollection is hard to
find. Very much in the mainstream of contemporary music, the
work explores bell-like sonorities, crashing cluster chords
and angular thematic material in a remote, mostly chilly manner.
It was not a pleasant experience, but it was short. Closing
the program was a spirited and energetic rendition of the
familiar El Salon Mexico by Aaron Copland, in the brilliant
Leonard Bernstein arrangement.
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