In the 20th-century the Eurocentric keyboard literature of Chopin, Beethoven, and Brahms was enriched by an unexpected profusion of works created by Spanish and South American composers.
Enrique Granados, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Isaac Albeniz, Ernesto Lecuona and others contributed a rich body of music that infused the keyboard repertoire with the tangy folk melodies and dance rhythms of their native lands, often using the piano's resources in highly individual ways.
Cuban pianist Jorge Luis Prats opened the Miami International Piano Festival's four-day Discovery Series with a bracing all-Spanish program Thursday night at the Lincoln Theatre.
Prats, 51, is a somewhat enigmatic figure. Yet as demonstrated in a March 2007 Broward Center recital (available on DVD from VAI) Prats possesses a daunting technique and often displays a striking poetic sensibility.
Thursday's opening program at the Lincoln Theatre provided a worthy canvas for Prats' art, the Cuban pianist showing a fine feel for this repertoire, even if some works came off more successfully than others.
Prats led off with Villa-Lobos' Bachianas brasileiras No. 4, the only one of the Brazilian composer's set of nine written for solo piano. The soloist's muscular, strongly projected style underlined the Bachian inspiration of the music with a notably Teutonic weight and power to the bolder passages.
Yet while the final Danza had the necessary rhythmic flair, too often Prats' touch felt heavy and intermittently four-square in music that requires a lighter, more nuanced approach.
As one would expect from a musician born in Camaguey, Prats' set of three Lecuona works demonstrated total sympathy with the Cuban composer's style. Prats fairly flew through Lecuona's mix of flashy dance rhythms and unapologetic bravura, bringing rippling articulation and supreme rhythmic swing to A la Antigua, No puedo contigo and La 32.
Carlos Farinas' Altagracia (Tango) moves from elliptical late Liszt to crashing chords of Shostakovich and a violently driving Prokofiev-like forward momentum. Prats gave Altagracia's spiky music superb advocacy.
Inspired by the paintings of his compatriot Goya, the Spaniard Enrique Granados created six musical evocations of Goya's paintings that manage to distill the swirl of color and bold drama of his canvases.
Prats' Goyescas was emblematic of much of his playing Thursday. One was repeatedly struck by the pianist's power and virtuosity, as he handled the most demanding passages without visible stress.
Yet too often the playing felt too forceful, aggressive and steely in tone, wanting in a more atmospheric, subtly hued expression. The kind of spacious evocative playing Prats brought to the Epilogo was magical, however, and, as one would expect, Prats threw off El Pelele with dervish intensity and enormous panache.
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