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In apt counterpoint, the Discovery Series concentrates on
newcomers. Yet the opening concert in May belongs to the Polish-born
Piotr Anderszewski, Miami's star alumnus, who was named a
Gilmore Artist last year, succeeding Leif Ove Andsnes of Norway.
More in keeping with the series' title is a matinee devoted
to two child prodigies: Eugene Ugorski, a 13-year-old violinist,
and Kit Armstrong, a 10-year-old composer and piano virtuoso
who also studies science and mathematics at Utah State University.
Mr. Anderszewski, the first of Ms. Brodsky's discoveries
to break through internationally, will surely not be the last.
The brevity of the festival schedule and the limited capacity
of the Florida halls notwithstanding, the activities in Miami
are starting to resonate far beyond Dade and Broward Counties.
In July, the festival takes up residence amid the Baroque
splendors of Lecce, deep in the heel of Italy. Not coincidentally,
Lecce is the hometown of another repeat visitor to Florida,
the remarkable Francesco Libetta, a poet-aristocrat of the
keyboard with the profile and carriage of a Renaissance prince.
Listeners can acquaint themselves with Mr. Anderszewski,
Mr. Libetta and other Miami discoveries on live, unedited
samplers from the festivals of 2000 and 2001. Two generous
CD's each, they are available through VAI, an independent
label based in Pleasantville, N.Y. Also represented are Nicholas
Angelich and Adam Neiman (Americans), Denis Burstein and Ilya
Itin (Russians), Pietro De Maria (Italian) and Kemal Gekic
(Croatian).
As to technique, this group need apologize to no one. (There
are several gold, silver and bronze medals from top international
competitions among them to prove it.) But all are in the noblest
sense servants of the composer, revealing the thought and
texture of their chosen repertory through the distinctive
prisms of their own personalities.
In addition to the samplers, VAI has issued individual live
CD's of Mr. De Maria and Mr. Libetta in recitals from Miami,
each a joy. Both mix repertory with imaginative disregard
for convention. But coincidentally, each performer casts some
of his most wondrous spells in Liszt transcriptions of music
from opera.
As explored by Mr. De Maria, "Réminiscences de Don Juan"
distills all the ecstasy and nightmare Mozart poured into
"Don Giovanni." Mr. Libetta, for his part, gives Liszt's take
on the waltz from Gounod's "Faust" a plush, sumptuous dynamism
that plunges a listener straight into the heady vortex of
the dance. In Liszt's reduction of Wagner's "Song to the Evening
Star," from "Tannhäuser," Mr. Libetta is in a more delicate
mood, giving the ray that pierces the somber twilight a pure,
icy shimmer as quietly astonishing as Wagner's original blend
of woodwinds, harp and strings.
As explored by Mr. De Maria, "Réminiscences de Don Juan"
distills all the ecstasy and nightmare Mozart poured into
"Don Giovanni." Mr. Libetta, for his part, gives Liszt's take
on the waltz from Gounod's "Faust" a plush, sumptuous dynamism
that plunges a listener straight into the heady vortex of
the dance. In Liszt's reduction of Wagner's "Song to the Evening
Star," from "Tannhäuser," Mr. Libetta is in a more delicate
mood, giving the ray that pierces the somber twilight a pure,
icy shimmer as quietly astonishing as Wagner's original blend
of woodwinds, harp and strings.
One discovery leads to another, and the network expands.
In Miami, Mr. Libetta's artistry caught the ear of a visiting
lecturer at the festival, the filmmaker Bruno Monsaingeon,
whose in-depth portraits of legends like Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
and Sviatoslav Richter are reckoned among the finest musical
documentaries ever made. (His video of Mr. Anderszewski explicating
and performing Beethoven's monumental "Diabelli" Variations
is a winner, too.)
Significantly, Ms. Brodsky, who also teaches, once aspired
to a concert career but abandoned that hope while still a
student, recognizing that she did not have a sufficient gift.
Now Mr. Monsaingeon has embarked on not one but two projects
with Mr. Libetta, one of them ("The Pianist of the Impossible")
investigating the poetic dimension of works of extreme technical
difficulty. Meanwhile, Mr. Libetta has produced a video of
his own, "Libetta in Lecce," interspersing concert footage
with perceptive remarks by other artists and scholars from
his out-of-the-way, culturally blessed hometown. (A subtitled
version is being released this month by VAI.)
Back in Florida, never resting on her laurels, Ms. Brodsky
is now booking dates through 2005. At the same time, she keeps
close tabs on her alumni as they show up more often and ever
more visibly, often in the time-honored role of last-minute
saver of the day.
"Piotr Anderszewski just made his debut with the Boston Symphony
Orchestra, replacing Zoltan Kocsis," Ms. Brodsky reported,
audibly beaming with pride. "And Pietro De Maria played a
recital in Cagliari, in Sardinia, replacing Mikhail Pletnev.
Isn't it amazing?"
Come to think of it, no. Given what these artists have to
offer, not amazing at all.
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