Thursday September 26th, 2013 – Students and faculty members from Juilliard’s Collaborative Piano Department joined forces in a really enjoyable concert at Paul Hall tonight. The Department’s pianists had decided that, in addition to playing for singers and instrumentalists, they wanted to work together on music written for two pianos or piano four-hands. They gave their first programme last season and tonight theye were back for Round Two.
Paul Hall is a special place for me. Having attended a few concerts there on my visits from Hartford many years ago, I started going frequently once I had moved the NYC in 1998. It was at Paul Hall that I first heard my remarkable contralto-friend Makiko Narumi as well as many other Juiliard singers who have gone on to successful careers. Following Makiko’s untimely death in 2002, I found it difficult to sit in Paul Hall, for all the memories the place stirred up. I mostly stopped attending performances there, and it wasn’t until May 2012 that I felt comfortable in the space again: a superb all-Britten programme evening with tenor Spencer Lang and pianist Dan Kurland seemed – in an odd way – a benediction to my friendship with Makiko; she would not have wanted me mourning her ten years after the fact.
It was in fact Dan Kurland who told me about tonight’s Dual-ing Pianos programme. I’ve never seen such a big crowd in Paul Hall before; I sat in my customary seat – third row on the aisle – and thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this excellent presentation.
Music spanning two centuries – from Mozart to Lutoslawski – was performed. After brief opening remarks from the head of the Collaborative Piano Department, Jonathan Feldman, the music commenced and rolled onward for 75 minutes without interruption; seven pieces were performed, nicely placed on the programme to emphasize the contrasting styles of the composers. The audience were attentive and appreciative, and the sound coming from the two Steinways was rich and evocative.
Aaron Copland’s EL SALON MEXICO in a two-piano arrangement was played by Kristen Doering and Art Williford. Bright fanfares evolve into a swaying dancelike passage; a big rhythmic section melts into a gentle romanza which leads to another animated section. The fanfares return, and there is a motif of almost childish naïveté before the boisterous conclusion. This arrangement – and indeed every piece on the programme – would make an excellent dancework.
Mozart’s Fugue for Two Pianos in C minor was performed by Margo Garrett and Jonathan Feldman, both of the Juilliard Faculty. Evoking Bach, the work was wonderfully pleasing to experience in this intimate setting. I was very curious about Ms. Garrett’s score, which had an charming binder and in which the music seemed to appear in columns rather than full pages.
Darius Milhaud’s Scaramouche suite received a colourful performance by Juliana Han and Jung A Bang. The opening movement, Vif, has an almost music-hall quality; the second, Modéré, begins with a ‘classic’ feel which gives way to a rather wistful melody. In the concluding Brazileira – a full-tilt Latin dance number – the two girls played with enormous vitality.
Robert Schumann’s Andante and Variations brought forth pianists Luis Ortiz and Miles Fellenberg, playing beautifully. The variations flow like the unwinding of a silken ribbon of melody, with the shifting rhythms and colours playing on our emotions; the final dreamy passage was particularly lovely.
In Witold Lutoslawski’s Paganini Variations, the familiar strand of melody was marvelously corrupted by the 20th-century Polish composer, giving the music an off-kilter and nightmarish quality. Pianists Siyi Fang and Ari Livne did a brilliant job with this darkly luminous piece.
Brian Zeger is a pianist I have long admired; tonight he and Bretton Brown played the evening’s only work for piano-hands – and the last work Franz Schubert composed in that genre: the Rondo in A major, D 951. Their playing had great clarity and purity of expression and was a highlight of the programe.
The evening came to a conclusion with four pianists playing CARMEN Fantasy, arranged by Mack Wilberg. Dan Kurland and Raymond Wong were at one Steinway, Jung A Band and Zsolt Balogh at the other. This wild and wonderful piece draws on familiar themes from Georges Bizet’s opera: the Toreodor Song, the Habanera, the Act II prelude, and Carmen’s ‘Chanson Boheme’. Relentlessly paced and filled with cunning dissonances, this could be the soundtrack for a Hollywood horror film (Micaela’s Nightmare?). It brought the concert to a rousing conclusion, and had me humming the ‘Chanson Boheme’ all the way home on the A train.
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