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The
Miami International Piano Festival continues to enrich the
local concert scene by presenting a concentrated dose of talented
keyboard artists within a short period of time. Friday's concert
at the Lincoln Theatre in Miami Beach featured Argentine-born
Nelson Goerner in his first appearance before a South Florida
audience.
Opening
with Schubert's great Sonata in D, D.850, Goerner dared to
tread on territory already staked out by masters past and
present, such as Gilels, Richter, Brendel and Schiff. Suffice
it to say that Goerner joins the ranks of the merely good.
The pianist's too-liberal use of the pedal rarely enabled
him to achieve much quiet playing. The second subject of the
Con Moto movement constituted a high point amid phrasing that
conveyed little sensitivity to the essence of the music.
Things
went better in Chopin's 24 Preludes. These mostly brief essays
in all keys are so varied in idiom that pianists rarely manage
to bring them off when performing them as a group. Goerner,
whose approach was one of romantic ardor, launched into the
opening Prelude in C with an impetuosity that continued unabated
through such ferocious pieces as the F-Sharp minor's Molto
agitato and B-Flat minor Presto con fuoco.
Employing
speeds somewhat faster than usual, the technically accomplished
pianist made an exhilarating experience of the faster Preludes.
The pesky pedal did, however, manage to get in the way of
complete enjoyment as textures and details were frequently
blurred. The two slower Chopin encores showed the performer
in a better light.
Saturday's
concert brought back the artistry of pianist Pietro De Maria
in a challenging all-Chopin program. Few pianists are willing
to take on the entire set of 24 Etudes, let alone adding the
four Ballades to the mix.
There
was no need to fear. The Italian pianist began the first Ballade
with a surety of purpose and a ravishing tonal palette. Coupled
with his immaculate phrasing and the beauty of his sound was
the effective understatement he achieved by not pushing things
to excess. The savage central section of the second Ballade
was like the sudden unleashing of a storm following the calm.
The remaining Ballades were dispatched with a considerable
amount of poetry and sensitivity.
Both
sets of Etudes were performed as highly contrasted single
units. Each of the technical difficulties was met without
fear, and each showed the artist unfazed by the problems encountered.
Perhaps the greatest obstacle preventing players from taking
on the entire set is the inevitable physical fatigue that
attacks the wrists and hands. At no time in the program was
this evident, as De Maria's slight frame seemed tireless.
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