| Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
was a product of the golden age of Russian romanticism. He
studied piano with Alexander Siloti (who later taught at New
York's Julliard School) and composition with Alexander Taneyev
and Anton Arensky (a pupil of Tchaikovsky). Rachmaninoff achieved
international success as a pianist, conductor, and composer.
Following the 1917 Revolution, Rachmaninoff left Russia for
the West. (Beverly Hills, California and Switzerland would
become his primary residences.) Although his performing career
would prosper, exile did not fuel Rachmaninoff's creative
energies. He composed only five works -- all major scores
-- between 1918 and 1943. Yet his music has become a pillar
of the pianistic repertoire. (His Piano Concerto No 3 has
become a standard competition piece.) Concert performances
and recordings abound, but all too often Rachmaninoff's music
is played in a mechanical, note perfect, superficial manner.
When a pianist brings depth and creative imagination to Rachmaninoff's
scores, there is cause for celebration. Misha Dacic did that
and more at his recital on 6 December 2003 at the Steinway
Concert Hall in Coral Gables, Florida, USA, presented by Patrons
of Exceptional Artists.
Dacic hails from the former Yugoslavia. He is a formidable
piano virtuoso. (He counts Kemal Gekic, Lazar Berman -- one
of Russia's great pianists -- and Frank Cooper among his teachers.)
Dacic possesses a remarkable technique. He truly commands
the keyboard. His technical facility is astounding but, more
importantly, he is a sensitive, poetic artist.
His Rachmaninoff group brought some of the most purely beautiful
pianism in recent seasons. Dacic offered the Romance in F
Minor Op 10 No 6 and two examples of the nearly lost art of
the piano transcription -- The Little Island (arranged by
the octogenarian pianist Earl Wild) and Melody (transcribed
by the brilliant Russian virtuoso Arcadi Volodos). Dacic produced
a series of pianistic pastels like a flowing multi-colored
fountain. Every detail was exquisitely brought to life. Dacic
played this music with idiomatic romanticism and true Russian
soul! Rarely have the melancholy and nostalgia of Rachmaninoff's
music been brought to life with such emotional fervor and
beauty!
Dacic also offered music by Rachmaninoff's contemporary Nikolai
Medtner (1880-1951). Medtner was also an unabashed romantic.
(At the Moscow Conservatory Medtner shares gold plaques of
honor with Rachmaninoff and Scriabin.) Unlike Rachmaninoff,
Medtner did not find great success outside of Russia although
he made a series of remarkable piano recordings in London
in the late 1940s. The Sonata-Reminiscenza in A Minor Op 38
No 1 is one of the last scores Medtner composed before leaving
Russia in 1921. Here Russian yearning is tempered by the grand
romantic manner of Brahms and Schumann. Dacic's impassioned
performance of this wonderful score was magnificent! He imbued
the tender opening and closing pages with the most exquisite
pianistic waves of light and shadow. The sheer beauty of his
tone was extraordinary! In the stormy central section, the
power of Dacic's cascading octaves held the audience spellbound.
(The bright, superior acoustics of the Steinway Hall enhanced
his exceptional performance.)
The Elegie Harmonique Op 61 by Jan Ladislav Dussek (1760-1812)
was a genuine novelty and a delightful surprise -- a richly
romantic, tempest tossed musical vignette. Here was an important
revival of a work by a composer best known for his lighter
scores. This beautiful keyboard work anticipates the music
of Brahms and Dvorák. All this music needs is a virtuoso
with technique to burn and a grand array of tonal colors.
Dacic did not disappoint. The kaleidoscopic sweep of his playing
was awesome! Claude Debussy's Hommage a Rameau is a delicate
impressionistic gem that pays tribute to an eighteenth century
French master. Dacic brought glowing tonal hues and delicate
shading to this minor masterwork. Franz Liszt's Hungarian
Rhapsody No 19 in D Minor (in a brilliant transcription by
Vladimir Horowitz no less) was pure pianistic fireworks. Dacic
brought flaming virtuosity and tremendous energy to this dazzling
tour-de-force. As an encore he offered a sensitive, beautifully
articulated rendering of a movement from Schumann's Symphonic-Etudes.
Misha Dacic offered a challenging, musically stimulating
program of rarely played keyboard scores. This brilliant display
of his pianistic powers was unforgettable! With boldly imaginative
artists like Dacic, the art of the piano has a great future.
A dazzling recital!
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