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The Miami International Piano Festival of Discovery is the
brainchild of two non-profit organizations, Patrons of Exceptional
Artists and Community Concert Association. Giselle Brodsky
and Agnes Youngblood, who head these two groups, are the forces
that have given direction and guided the Festival to where
it is today.
Now the Festival finds itself at the brink of expansion to
New York and abroad. In partnership with WLRN, NPR/TV and
VAI, (today's most important distributor of classical music
audio/visual materials,) the Festival presents concerts, generates
live-performance recordings and introduces artists to concert
management and promoters throughout the world.
Complementing the Festival last week were lectures and panel
discussions by distinguished professors Frank Cooper (University
of Miami) and Bruce Payne (Duke University), chief music critic
of the Daily Telegraph in London, Geoffrey Norris, Kemal Gekic,
who made his debut at the Miami International Piano Festival
of Discovery in 1999, as well as, the artists themselves.
Mr. Payne shared some stories and discussed a few fascinating
characters in literature that involve the piano. Mr. Norris
gave us a glimpse into the career and personal life of Sergei
Rachmaninoff.
Venetian-born Pietro De Maria kicked off the Festival series
last Tuesday with an incredibly difficult program. De Maria
began with a superb rendering of the Mozart Sonata in B-flat
Major, K. 333 demanding a crystal clear style of playing.
His singing tone and understanding of the composer's fanciful
phrases, and at times introspective melodies, tipped off the
audience that they were in the hands of a master for the rest
of the evening. In the Beethoven Sonata in F minor, Op. 57
(Appassionata) that followed, De Maria's hands, body and soul
took on the moodiness, the drama, the building of tension
and violent contrasts that have made this work a recital centerpiece.
This was a breathtaking performance that pushed the limits
of virtuosity. De Maria took risks and they paid off. Always
in control - every nuance, every decrescendo was set in perfect
proportion to hold the sonata together.After the intermission
we were treated to an early Mendelssohn work, Fantasy in F-sharp
minor, Op. 28. The Fantasy finale was a treat - bubbly, bouncy
and as sweet as a bonbon - the result of pianistic dexterity
to achieve the radiance of sound that resulted. Maurice Ravel's
sensational Gaspard de la Nuit closed the concert. Here Pietro
De Maria as pianist, took on another persona - as painter.
Ravel's torturously difficult score can only come to life
in strange and muted colors with surprise splashes of brilliance.
This is a work that few artists can recreate. De Maria and
Ravel become one last night. I have heard this work in concert
and in recordings by some of the "greats," but I have never
heard it interpreted as well.The audience, screaming its approval,
was treated to an encore. De Maria dashed off with remarkable
precision and taste, Rachmaninoff's arrangement of The Flight
of the Bumblebee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
On the second night of the festival, Mihaela Ursuleasa was
in the spotlight. Franz Schubert's rarely performed Klavierstücke
D 946 opened the program. It is a sprawling work that requires
great understanding to hold it together. Ms. Ursuleasa worked
her piano magic to breathe life into this piece - a tapestry
of melody set amidst dynamic contrasts. The next two selections
on the program George Enescu's Sonata no. 3 and two Romanian
Dances by Bela Bartok revealed Ms. Ursuleasa's as yet untapped
resources. She took us on a roller coaster ride letting us
experience the vast mood swings of the composers and finally
treating us to a fireworks display rarely heard from the fingers
of one human being. Where did all that power and positive
energy come from? I guess it came from Romania where she was
born 23 years ago. The audience realized after the first half
of the concert that they were experiencing a dynamo in the
guise of an attractive dark-haired beauty.
The second half of the program revealed a whole new aspect
of Ms. Ursuleasa. Through the genius of Fredrick Chopin and
his Sonata in B minor, Op. 58, No. 3, the artist's full range
of talent was put to the test. Her dexterity, her majesty,
her passionate presentation, her complete understanding of
the music and the projection of it is the stuff piano stars
are "made of." Mihaela Ursuleasa is such a star. Her encores
- a dream-like and sensuous Nocturne of Chopin and the Alborado
del Gracioso of Ravel - provided an unimagined lagniappe to
an already thrilling evening of music.
Steven Osborne, from Scotland, broke with tradition on day
three. Not only did he opt to forego the customary white tie
and tails for a simple collarless black shirt and trousers,
he took a "mike" stage front and chatted with the audience
about the music he was about to play. I personally found his
style delightful and his personality charismatic. Bach's magnificent
Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp minor gave the listener a clue
to the control and depth of feeling this pianist had to share.
Debussy's Preludes of Book II cast Osborne as a tone painter
- the keys were his brushes, the sounds were his colors. This
music is intensely personal to Debussy and obviously to Osborne
too. The artist communicated the details of the composer's
creation - a gust of wind, the falling of a leaf and its decay,
spirals of smoke, the turgid languor of mists. The piano seemed
to be a different instrument in Osborne's hands - muted to
blend Debussy's shifting harmonies in order to evoke the kind
of paintings associated with Monet, Suerat, Renoir and Van
Gogh.
From the rhythms of the Habanera to a humorous caricature
of a comic person dancing the "cake walk" the piano tells
it all. In the Ondine Prelude Osborne demonstrated that he
is indeed the quintessential Debussy pianist who weaves his
web of drifting harmonies and meticulously unfolds his glistening
scales in waves. In the final Prelude piano fireworks and
violent keyboard effects amid the dust of a 14th of July celebration
couldn't have been presented more vividly by any pianist to
close the Debussy cycle.
The entire second half of the program showed Osborne in top
form. He must have some Russian blood in him somewhere to
have had the intense understanding of Rachmaninoff's Op. 32
(13 Preludes). These pieces tax the very structure of the
piano. Osborne met the challenge and produced the kind of
sonorities you might expect from a full symphony orchestra.
His ability to create anticipation from his brilliant crescendos,
to build incredible tension in the music and then to release
it allowing the melody to soar without shame, made this listener
anxious to hear more of Steven Osborne's most masterful Rachmaninoff.
Two encores were warmly received by the Festival crowd - an
original tune by Osborne, It's OK By Me and Thelonius Monk's
Bemsha Swing.
Emanuele Arciuli (Italy) came to the Festival with a built
in reputation as a champion of Twentieth Century Music having
collaborated with such composers as G. Crumb, F. Rzewski,
A. J. Kernis and J. Hoffman. His program reflected his individual
taste.Karol Szmanowski's Sheherazade opened the concert. Arciuli
demonstrated immediately that he understands the narrative
construction of a tone poem. His insights into this Scriabin-like
fantasy with its languorous passages, its delicately chiseled
textures and its both capricious and seductive material, soon
took us right to the core of his emotional understanding of
the passionate nature of this work. Arciuli masterfully built
the final dance to a thrilling or I should say "trilling"
climax.
The remainder of the first half of the program consisted
of the two movements of Beethoven's monumental Piano Sonata
Op. 111. It soon became apparent why Arciuli chose this epic
sonata. Here is a case where a recognized "old master" is
unabashedly contemporary. This artist, with profound understanding,
projected and shared with us, Beethoven's inner feelings via
his broad dynamic range and his sense of direction. Here more
than anywhere else the musical integrity of the interpreter
was evident. Energy and understanding made this a memorable
performance. After the intermission, Arciuli leaped back into
the 20th century with Debussy's (12) Preludes Book I.
Having heard book II the night before, it was satisfying
to hear a different, yet valid, interpretation of Debussy's
paintings in sound. On this night the composer was approached
in a more contemporary way. Dissonances were exposed, while
the impression of great spontaneity was achieved. Dazzling
virtuosity contrasted with intense sensitivity to shadow and
light filled the concert hall with the sounds needed to paint
Debussy's pictures. The series was brought to a searing finale
with a modern work composed by Frederick Rzewski - Winnsboro
Cotton Mill Blues. The piece calls for the incessant repetitive
sounds of the machinery in a textile mill.
Arciuli recreated this chilling sound apparition via rapid
tone clusters in the bass register growing to an almost unbearable
intensity until not only the pianist's hands but also his
elbows were put to work on the piano. Interspersed through
the frightening din were the sounds of the workers through
their blues and the unmistakable music of the American South.
But the provincial simplicity of the folk was eventually overpowered
by the riveting sound of the mill. A frightening comment…
an imposing finale… in the hands of a master pianist!
Encores were demanded. First Arciuli chose Bach's Andante
from his Italian Concerto in F major. You could not imagine
a more enormous contrast with the Cotton Mill Blues, however,
as the artist sensitively and clearly articulated Bach's stunningly
beautiful melodic line, it soon became apparent that this
too was contemporary music. Arciuli seemed to relish the dissonances
and Bach's expressive output that made this encore as modern
as anything on the program. The last encore took everyone
who ever played the piano back to their childhood when Arcuili
played Beethoven's Für Elise. This was definitely not an everyday
interpretation. It was presented with great delicacy and warmth.
It was simple and clear in a more Chopinesque style than I
was used to hearing. Did I like it? You bet I did! It communicated
with me - it touched me- and momentarily took me back to a
time and place that I had almost forgotten.
Next year, when the Miami International Piano Festival of
Discovery returns to Lincoln Road, you will again have the
chance to personally meet four young artists at the height
of their creative and technical powers. These men and women
will take you to forgotten places. If you dig music - they
will nourish your soul.
Morton Slakoff is a lifelong music aficionado, whose first
love was the piano. During his youth in Philadelphia and
New York he was fortunate to have attended the recitals of
many legendary pianists such as Horowitz, Rubenstein, Serkin,
Kappell, Solomon, Gilels, Richter and scores more. His familiarity
with the piano repertory is extensive. He currently lectures
on Wagnerian Studies at Florida International University and
Broward Community College. Although he considers himself an
incurable romantic, he loves to listen to the oldest, as well
as, the latest in serious music. Slakoff was also an award-winning
businessperson, coming to South Florida after a 42-year career
as a marketing executive in radio and television for MCA/Universal
TV, Metromedia, Viacom, Time Life and NBC.
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