| Once
a wunderkind, now grown up as a distinguished artist, Konstantin
Lifschitz appeared at the Broward Center's Amaturo Theatre
on Friday, under the auspices of the Miami International Piano
Festival.
Lifschitz, undaunted by the difficulties of the music, chose
to perform both Schubert's extroverted Wanderer Fantasy and
the monumentally challenging Sonata No. 29 in B-flat (Hammerklavier)
by Beethoven.
Many pianists have run afoul of this work, but usually get
an "A" for effort for even attempting the musical
and finger-breaking challenges of the composer-s longest and
greatest piano sonata. One famous pianist was reported to
have said: "This was my best performance -- only 52 mistakes."
Lifschitz launched into the opening Allegro at breakneck
speed and dropped a few of his own notes. Nevertheless, it
was a staggering, if unorthodox, traversal that encapsulated
a sublime Adagio and a final double fugue of astonishing drive.
At 28, this was a young man's impetuous Beethoven reading
in which the spirit and technique were willing to take chances.
Being more weighty in tempo, Schubert's popular work had
a breath and propulsiveness that made this far from just another
run-through. As in the Beethoven, Lifschitz made a very personal
thing over pauses, and often stretched them far beyond their
limits.
The Sonata Ricercata by contemporary Russian composer Boris
Yoffe was being given in what was billed as its U.S. premiere.
A seven-minute work in one movement, it offers violent Kancheli-like
contrasts in which the listener is tossed from a state of
somnolence to brutal assaults by crashing chords. It was interesting
and certainly not dull.
The Butterflies and the Birds of Paradise by Czech composer
Bohuslav Martinu is a three-movement suite of pure Impressionism.
The sounds were lovely, and Lifschitz captured all of the
subtlety and rapt beauty of the piece, with soft gradations
of tone and color.
An encore of a movement from one of the "easy"
Beethoven sonatas offered a nice contrast with the massive
Hammerklavier, concluding an uncommonly thoughtful program.
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