Murray Perahia in Recital

Presented by the Portland State University Piano Recital Series

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

by

Erik Dyar

 

Murray Perahia continues to meet and surpass expectations of being one of the very best of the world’s best pianists. His breathtaking recital before a rapturous audience of piano aficionados in the intimate confines of Lincoln Recital Hall on the campus of Portland State University certainly reinforced this impression.   

It was indeed a special occasion to hear such a great artist as Perahia in a rather small, yet acoustically sound, hall instead of the 2,000+-seat concert halls in which I had heard him previously. Appreciation must go out to the organizers of the Portland State University Piano Recital Series who were able to bring him here, and who present, it must be said, one of the very best piano recital series in the country. 

On this occasion, Perahia returned to the composers that have been close to him throughout his career:  Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms. Although, to say he is a specialist in this music, would exclude Bach, Mozart and Schubert for whom he is just as well known. 

The recital opened with an often-neglected sonata among the Beethoven cycle, the Op. 31, No.1 in G major. The only reason for this neglect I can think of (certainly not the quality of the music) is that people are not comfortable hearing humor from a composer who is usually taken so seriously. Perahia jumped into the first movement at an exceptionally fast tempo, which made one worry that rhythmic and sonic clarity would be lost. The fear quickly disappeared for what was displayed was virtuosity put to securely musical purposes. The precise syncopation, appropriate rubato and clear phrasing were all in evidence. Perahia was also able to put this together to bring out the delightful humor and wit of the piece, even eliciting a chuckle from the audience at the movement’s end.  In the second movement, the wit was still there, and we heard the exceptional balance Perahia is able to capture allowing the brilliant trills and intricate passages to stand out so clearly against accompaniment figures. And here, we could also appreciate his enviable, unfaltering articulation on display. In the final movement, definitely the climax of the work, one felt Perahia’s sense of musical structure, which is always powerful. Every note is in its place—dynamically and rhythmically—so that it takes its rightful place within the phrase and the phrase within the whole.  His fairly extensive experience as a conductor (he regularly conducts such orchestras as the Academy of Saint Martin-in-the-Fields and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe) is not surprising. One saw him even conducting himself as he sat at the piano, when a hand was temporarily free from playing.   

The second work on the program was Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op. 12. Perahia forced me hear this set of eight pieces with new ears, for I have to admit that before his performance I didn’t think much of this work, except for one or two of the pieces, which I thought merited some attention. Yet, during this concert, I was transfixed and mesmerized. Fantasiestücke, Op. 12 is obviously a work eminently suited to Perahia’s abilities. In the opening Des Abends (In the Evening), he set the mood by producing simply gorgeous sounds from the piano that took your breath away. He brought out the melody with beautiful cantabile combining with it unfaltering sense of the musical line and phrase. In Aufschwung (Soaring), a piece which can easily end up a muddy mess in the wrong hands, he played with an appropriate intensity while seemingly effortlessly bringing out the melody line. It was a knockout.  Warum? (Why?) again demonstrated his gorgeous sense of line and breathtakingly soft pianissimos.  Grillen (Whims) produced extremely well balanced chords and showed Perahia’s ability at always producing beautiful sounds from the piano while at the same time not being afraid to produce a thunderous fortissimo when it is needed. In der Nacht (In the Night) was taken at a fast pace, and virtuosity was again very much in evidence, but it remained under complete control. The melody and line were always there, yet the strong undercurrents was expressed but tamed.  Fabel (Fable) was light and playful and brought out Perahia’s great gift as a colorist.  He launched into Traumeswirren (Restless Dreams) at a dizzying tempo displaying a mystifying ability to produce such clarity at such speed-- the subtleties of dynamics and phrasing were never lost — there were more than a few jaws dropping in this hall full of piano enthusiasts. These fantasy pieces end with the appropriately titled Ende vom Lied (End of Song). Perahia made its chords shine, balancing them in such a wonderful way that gave an uplifting sense to the music. This work can so easily descend into banging banality, but not here — not with Murray Perahia at the keyboard.  As the piece was brought to a delicately soft and calm conclusion, I was left with a revelatory new vision of this work, and by the response from the audience, I was not alone in this feeling. 

The second half of the program was devoted to the Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24 from Johannes Brahms. One of the greatest and most majestic works in the piano repertoire, it is based on an almost too simple a tune from Handel’s harpsichord Suite in B-flat published in 1733. Brahms begins with this little theme and takes us on an expansive journey into his musical world while never losing touch with its origin. The piece contains twenty-five variations and then climaxes in a powerful fugue, reminiscent of the fugues in some late Beethoven sonatas, yet clearly from Brahms’ universe. 

Several years ago, recovering from a hand injury, Perahia used the baroque repertoire to slowly bring himself back to playing the piano. The first recording after his recovery contained some of the Handel Keyboard Suites and Scarlatti Sonatas (a brilliant CD by the way). One can see this Brahms work as almost retracing his journey back from injury to the height of virtuosity.  It opens with the statement of the simple Handel theme, exquisitely articulated by Perahia, his talent with the baroque still clearly intact. He then brings us with him on a magical Brahmsian journey. 

Perahia during this performance was a strongly grounded figure at the piano, never appearing to expend any more movement than is absolutely required to produce the desired effect, yet at times he was leaping from one end of the keyboard to the other, playing hand-numbing, jumbled chords in rapid succession. There was never a sense that any musical idea was sacrificed for the sake of technical difficulties (of which there are many).  Perahia took risks (or what would be considered risks for most pianists), which kept the audience on the edge of their seats, yet the thrill in watching these pyrotechnics never caused us any anxiety. There was never a doubt that Perahia was in control and could conquer any difficulty with the greatest of ease.  

Perahia seems particularly suited to the performance of works with variations (his recent recording and performances of the Goldberg Variations comes to mind), for his playing shows a remarkable transparency, illuminating the built up layers of musical lines and texture used to develop and expand the theme, so that each can be heard distinctly yet blending together as a cohesive whole. And his conductor’s sense of structure was fully exhibited so that each variation had its place within this extended work and lucidly revealed its musical trajectory climaxing in an awe-inspiring performance of the Fugue.  Its last chord, almost shaking the hall, reverberated through the space until, as it began to die away, it was replaced by rapturous cheers from an audience already leaping to their feet.  It was a great performance. 

He performed two encores, Schubert’s Impromptus Nos. 2 and 4 from Op. 90.  His superb taste and exquisite articulation served him well here. 

The PSU Piano Recital Series continues to bring in the cream of piano talent in its 2004-2005 season with performances scheduled from Richard Goode, Stephen Hough, Arnaldo Cohen, and Louis Lortie among others.  More Information is available at there web site:

www.fpa.pdx.edu/prs/ 

End