Horacio Gutierrez Plays in the Grand Manner
by
Lyn Bronson
Having heard pianist Horacio
Gutiérrez in a blazing performance of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 on
Thursday evening with the Monterey Symphony, we were looking forward to his
recital appearance in Carmel’s Sunset Center on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 PM.
Yes, that starting time is correct − not 2, 3, or 4 PM, but 1:00 PM, which is
more like lunch time on a Sunday. However, the early starting time was not
intended as an invitation to a “brown bag, bring your own lunch” concert, but,
according to Monterey Symphony officials, was necessitated by Gutiérrez having
to get an early flight out of Monterey in order to get to his next concert
engagement on time.
Actually, this was not the whole
story, for, as we all know, affluent society in every community is the driving
force behind the presentation of all classical music and supports it, not only
by attendance at concerts, but also by its generous financial support through
donations. It was stated on the Monterey Symphony’s web page, “In addition to
these performances [referring to this ‘Summer Classic Series’ of three concerts]
the Monterey Symphony has created its Summer Socials, which are essentially
post-performance parties. The Summer Socials will allow patrons to taste
specially prepared hors d’oeuvres and desserts, enjoy a glass of wine, and mix
informally with Max Bragado and members of the orchestra. The Summer Socials are
$35 per person and limited to forty people each day.”
Thus, this “Summer Social” for
invited guests after the performance was most probably another incentive to
begin the concert at such an early time and may have also been the reason why
Gutiérrez performed no encores. Whereas most members of the audience would have
been thrilled to hear the concert extended by a pair of encores, Monterey
Symphony management needed to get the artist to the post-performance party and
shake a few hands before his departure for the airport.
So, despite the peculiarity of
its awkward early starting time, and its awkward termination without encores, we
heard a great artist performing an interesting program. It has to be said that
the first half of the program with the Berg Sonata and the Chopin Preludes, Op.
28, was more successful than the second half containing works by Debussy and
Liszt.
The recital opened with an
extraordinary performance of Alban Berg’s Sonata, Op. 1. This work, considered
in its time as avant-garde, is perceived today as a work containing
aspects of Wagnerian chromaticism, a hint of Scriabin, and a residue of 19th-century
romanticism. Gutiérrez injected all kinds of subtle color and shading in his
performance, and it was beautiful! In the Chopin Preludes that followed, again
we heard many varieties of sound, touch and expression that all added up to a
Titanic performance. A few of the Preludes are so technically undemanding that
your great aunt Tillie can navigate around them easily, but there are others
that are for virtuosos only. Gutiérrez managed to find the right approach for
every aspect of expressive lyricism or blood and guts virtuosity.
The second half of the program
got off to a strange start with a curious performance of Reflets dans l’eau
(Reflections in the Water) from Debussy’s Images, Book I. Gutiérrez began the
work mezzo-forte and hardly ever descended to the pianissimo level
asked for by Debussy. This piece is 95 measures long, and over 60 of them are
marked pp or ppp. In addition to overly loud dynamic levels, the
work seemed too fast and ended up sounding more like “Reflections in a
Whirlpool” than “Reflections in the Water.” The remaining two works from Images,
Book I, Hommage à Rameau and Mouvement, however, were
stylistically and pianistically superb and represented playing of a very high
order.
Gutiérrez ended the concert with
three selections by Liszt, Au bord d’une source, Sonetto 104 del
Petrarca and Mephisto Waltz No. 1. Although Au bord d’une source,
like Reflets dans l’eau, was too loud and too fast, which essentially
robbed it of some of its charm, Gutiérrez made a persuasive case for the
Sonetto and gave us a rousing and dramatic performance of Mephisto. In the
last few pages of Mephisto, Gutiérrez took a lot of chances, threw caution to
the winds, but still managed to give us a vibrant and explosive performance of
this masterwork. Probably the audience felt as exhausted as Gutiérrez at the
end of this recital, for we had just been on a very wild and exciting ride.
