Prutsman Triumphs!
by
Lyn Bronson
Pianists run the gamut
from the dark and intense – agonizing over every note – to the opposite end of
the spectrum – enjoying their extroverted performances and freely communicating
their love of music to an audience. Such an extroverted pianist is Stephen
Prutsman, who returned to our area last night to give us a super-sized
performance of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Santa Cruz Symphony
under the direction of Maestro John Larry Granger. Although this concerto is one
of the most popular and often recorded works (over 90 versions available on CD),
it is a curious fact that we seldom hear it live in concert. Well, it turned out
to be most welcome last night and earned Mr. Prutsman a prolonged standing
ovation (plus he threw in an encore: his own jazzy arrangement of “Slow Boat to
China”). He proved himself not to be only a blazing virtuoso last night, but
also to be a sensitive ensemble partner as he provided an elegant accompaniment
to Laurie Camphouse’s lovely flute solo at the beginning of the second movement.
Prutsman gave a terrific performance of the huge first movement that blew us
away with his intense, fiery passages and an equally intense magnificently
performed cadenza. However, it was the final two movements that contributed most
to the cumulative effect and made this one of the most spontaneous and
satisfying performances we have ever heard. The sparks really flew in the last
movement and took the piece over the top – it would be difficult to imagine a
better performance. An interesting aspect of Mr. Prutsman’s playing needs to be
mentioned. Although we hear some virtuosos today who, for reasons best known to
themselves, absolutely pound the piano to a pulp and create ugly clangorous
sounds that serve no musical purpose, it is pleasing to report that Prutsman,
even in the most climatic passages, never drew from the piano an ugly sound.
Opening the concert
last night was the premiere performance of Gwyneth Walker’s “The
Rainbow Sign: An American Overture (2007).” In the composer’s own program notes,
she tells us that the basis for this work was the line, “God gave Noah the
rainbow sign” from the spiritual “The Gospel Plow” and that the musical imagery
in this work focuses on the rainbow, symbolically achieved by a kaleidoscopic
blending of orchestral textures and timbres. This very brief work (four
minutes and four seconds) began with some fabulously rhythmic and inventive
percussion playing by Norman Peck and Amanda Thompson that immediately commanded
our attention. What followed this great introduction was just as satisfying. Ms.
Walker has a dramatic flair for lovely and effective orchestration and a
charming way of putting all the pieces together, so much so that I didn’t want
the piece to end. To be left with this feeling of wanting more is a refreshing
and welcome change from some overblown, overwrought and
overly pretentious works we have occasionally heard in premiere performances.
Maestro Granger chose
to end the concert with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Talk about familiar works,
here is another piece as well known to audiences as Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto
No. 1. Did we have a blasé feeling of
déjà vu? No, I can honestly say we didn’t, for Granger somehow made the work
vital and fresh, and as compelling as ever. The motivic structure and
architecture of this piece still grabbed us by the throat and held us captive
for almost 40 minutes. The lovely Andante con moto was as beautiful as ever, and
the final triumph of this great piece still worked its magic.
