In its 11th year the Miami International Piano Festival and its artistic director Giselle Brodsky bring big things in a small package. With concerts concentrated in the late spring they are often dwarfed by the larger musical organizations in the region. Last month in Broward they presented in their “Master Series” Konstantin Lifschitz playing both books of J.S. Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier. Young pianists Kit Armstrong and Sijing Ye, both 16, performed solo and as concerto soloist in their “Prodigies and Masters of Tomorrow” series. In the final “Discovery Series” at Miami Beach’s Lincoln Theater pianists Gulsin Onay (Turkey) and Aleksandar Madzar (Serbia) made their Florida debuts on May 9th and 10th respectively. Taking advantage of the Internet the festival houses almost 150 videos on their site (www.youtube.com/user/miamipianofestival).
Preceding Madzar’s imaginative and unusual program, writer-teacher-pianist Stuart Issacoff lectured on the first selection of the evening, Ludwig van Beethoven’s (1770-1827) monumental 33 Diabelli Variations, op. 120. Referred by Beethoven as “beads on a rosary” or a “cobbler’s patch” (schusterfleck) the nearly one-hour work spans the piano universe from the “silly to the sublime” (Issacoff). Originally a waltz tune by Anton Diabelli (1781-1858) the composer offered the rather banal melody to over 50 European composers including Schubert, Liszt and Hummel to raise money for war orphans. Beethoven took the unpromising 32-bar original and transformed (veränderungen) it into an amazing journey for pianists and listeners through a march, variations, parodies, fugues and a final transcendent minuet returning to the home key of C major. According to Issacoff in his brief but informative talk Beethoven “exhausts the variations as a form – we reach the sublime”.
Madzar’s approach to the massive enterprise was analytical, calculated and usually quite emotive. In No. 1 he kept the initial march pompous and dry suiting the parodic element in Beethoven’s overall design. Eight notes in ¾ time (No. 2) had playfulness while the more legato melody line (No. 3) hinted of soon-to-come solemnity in its rolling bass and four-bar held chord. Variations Nos. 5-7 demonstrated his fine virtuosity and was balanced by the poco vivace’s (No. 8) more poetic rising bass line. The Presto (No. 10) closed the first third of the variations with adequate speed and energy.
In the middle third a few variations stood out: No. 13 with its expectant pauses; the “Gothic cathedral” (No. 14) and its processional pace; the wonderful crashing bass octaves and furtive treble in No. 17; the sometimes bizarre cadences in the snail-like Andante (No. 20); the trills of No. 21; and the Mozart allusion to Leporello’s “Night and Day” aria from Don Giovanni in No. 22. Madzar’s version tended to flatten the crudeness of Beethoven’s intended comparison of Diabelli’s waltz “theft” from Mozart’s aria.
The thickness of No. 23 with it contrary motion was nicely complemented in the Fughetta (No. 24) and its Bach allusion while the next the next four variations were boisterous and sprightly.
Madzar’s approach to the contemplative trio of Nos. 29-31 showed delicacy and a sonata-like depth of feeling. If the great and exhilarating Fuga (No. 32) came across as more sparkling than earthy, the transition to the final Menuetto (No. 33) through the Poco Adagio acted as the proper brake to the preceding locomotion. His version of the ineffable last variation had a lapidary stillness that was just the right measure for such a multi-level structure.
After intermission, Madzar’s programming decision seemed almost startlingly superficial with Claude Debussy’s (1862-1918) Children’s Corner, the six short pieces written for his beloved daughter Claude-Emma (“Chou-Chou”). But his choice was actually unerring; never infantile in scope, they are still miniature in scale to parallel the size of the preceding variations. While Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum had a seamless surface quality the middle pieces like Jumbo’s Lullaby, The Snow is Dancing, and The Little Shepherd were delivered with gossamer strength and a beautifully etched technique of intertwined hands, counter rhythms and subtle dynamics. A final Golliwog’s Cakewalk oddly was a let down with its stiff syncopation and too polite anti-Wagnerian taunt.
Madzar ended the concert with Frederic Chopin’s (1810-49) Andante Spianato & Grand Polonaise Brilliante in E-flat major, op. 22. While the playing had adept precision it sounded so restrained it came across as parched especially with a fading left hand accompaniment. Despite the necessary pomp and glitter there was more propulsion than animation.
Nonetheless, his three spectacular encores were equivalent to entrées rather than tossed-off tidbits. After a commendable Bach Capriccio, he played Maurice Ravel’s (1875-1937) flamboyant and difficult Alborada del gracioso and Une barque sur l’océan, both later orchestrated, from Miroirs. The performance was uninhibited, provocative and emotionally gripping. Who knew high-speed arpeggios and tremolos could create goose bumps?
Thanks to the Miami International Piano Festival highly talented pianists have a venue to make their way on the world stage!
Article Date: Thursday, May 15, 2008
Published by: Gazette Production
Publisher Email: production@cggazette.com
