The French pianist Jean Louis Steuerman was in town this week to play two benefit recitals in Sunset Center Theater for the Monterey County Symphony. Since Mr. Steuerman has made his reputation playing the keyboard works of Johann Sebastian Bach, it came as no surprise that both recitals were all Bach programs. However, considering the eminence of the Carmel Bach Festival, it was a disappointment that so few of the Carmel Bach Festival subscribers, patrons and supporters were in attendance for these two events. Although Mr. Steuerman's distinguished presence might conceivably be considered a possible asset to some future Carmel Bach Festival season, it is unlikely since one of the policies instituted by the Festival in recent years is the banishment of the piano as a solo or concerto instrument.
The first of Mr. Steuerman's two programs was on Monday, April 27, and contained the Partita No. 1 in B-flat Major, two Preludes and Fugues from the Well Tempered Clavier, the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, the Italian Concerto and Partita No. 6. Because I had a rehearsal with orchestra at Monterey Peninsula College, I missed the first half of the concert. However, at intermission concert patrons were ecstatic about Steuerman's performance of the Partita No. 1. What made an especially strong impression were the lovely ornaments and embellishments in Minuet II, which often in performance come across as a rather uninteresting work. In this Minuet Steuerman impressed with his knowledge and his imagination.
The outer fast movements of the Italian Concerto were strongly rhythmic and executed at very rapid tempos (I felt as though the hounds of Hell were nipping at his heels in the final movement). In the slow movement of the Italian Concerto, as was his custom throughout both recitals, Mr. Steuerman abstained from using the damper pedal. If there is any place in the keyboard works of J. S. Bach that cries out for the use of the pedal it is in this slow movement. And it is not only to help sustain the lovely legato lines, but also to increase the sonority that comes from sympathetic vibrations released by the damper pedal. Accordingly, the slow movement sounded rather dry and academic, but there was one lovely moment at the end of the movement when Steuerman reduced his usual
mezzo forte tonal palette down to the
pianissimo end of the spectrum.
The concluding work of the evening was a bold and dramatic rendition of the Partita No. 6 in E Minor. Once again I missed the damper pedal which gives the arpeggiated figures of the opening
Toccata a more powerful and majestic feeling. However, Mr. Steuerman achieved extraordinary clarity in his execution of the highly embellished
Allemanda and
Sarabande and his final
Gigue achieved a satisfying conclusion. As an encore, Steuerman played a short selection from the Goldberg Variations to be featured on his next program.
The second of the two programs on Wednesday, April 29, was his much-anticipated performance of the Goldberg Variations. Attended by a smaller audience than was present on the preceding Monday, there was a sprinkle of aficionados in the audience following the performance from the score. Hearing a performance of the Goldberg Variations makes special demands on both the audience and the performer. The average recital is normally a 75-minute affair with an intermission, and the performer not only has significant pauses between movements, but also often leaves the stage between pieces for a few minutes to take a break. However, in the Goldberg Variations, we have a work of 60-70 minutes duration with no pauses, breaks or intermission.
We have to have the greatest admiration for Mr. Steuerman's concentration and fabulous memory. Just to learn and perform this work is a significant accomplishment, but then to play it with such mastery and artistry as he did takes it to an entirely new level of achievement. He was totally in command as he wove his way through this thorny work. The glittery passages were scintillating in their clarity, the ornaments and embellishments were fabulous, and his sense of the drama of the work was elaborately presented to the audience.
After such a performance there was no need for an encore. It said it all - from alpha to omega.
End
