Pianist Hans Boepple in All-Chopin Recital
by
Lyn Bronson
If you give a pianist an
opportunity to spend a year luxuriously isolated on a dessert island with a fine
Steinway and the music scores from only one composer, it is a safe bet that most
pianists would choose Chopin. Hans Boepple’s all-Chopin faculty recital last
night at Santa Clara University pretty well proved why. Chopin in the right
hands is irresistible, and Mr. Boepple was sizzling last night.
This was an evening of
masterpieces. Opening with a minor masterpiece, the Prelude in C-sharp Minor,
Op. 45, Boepple continued with the heavy guns, consisting of the Barcarolle, Op.
60, the great B-Minor Sonata, Op. 58, and as a blazing finale, the Op. 25 Etudes
in their entirety.
Did the audience love it? Well,
yes they did, and for a very good reason. During this concert we heard a pianist
who never exploits the works he performs as vehicles for virtuoso display, but
instead lavishes love and respect on them, and, in the process, brings them to
life in a unique way that profoundly touches his audience
The Prelude in C-sharp Minor is
rarely played, but Boepple smoothly navigated his way through the lovely
harmonic progressions and brought out all the sensuous qualities of Chopin’s
beautifully conceived swirling sonorities. This was a satisfying work with which
to begin a Chopin program, and on this occasion the performance grabbed our
attention and held it to the end.
Without stopping for audience
applause, Mr. Boepple launched right in to the Barcarolle, Op. 60, and again
created moments of magic with his lovely tonal palette and his beautiful shaping
of phrases. Holding this sprawling piece together is not easy, but he found just
the right way to sweep us along to the lovely climax and coda.
Ending the first half of the
program before intermission, we heard the Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58. The
first movement of this work is filled with beautiful themes, finely-crafted
transitions, and thorny contrapuntal passages that are difficult to tame.
Boepple brought an acute sense of architectural integrity to this movement, and
his taut organization and execution of the development section was one of the
best I have ever heard. After a lovely Scherzo and deeply-felt slow
Adagio, he really dazzled us with the tempestuous finale in which his “Damn
the torpedoes and full speed ahead” approach was a fine example of controlled
risk taking that paid off handsomely and produced such a spectacular
performance, it called forth a storm of bravos from the audience.
After intermission, we heard the
Twelve Etudes, Op. 25, and this knockout performance succeeded on two levels —
not only exhibiting fine playing of the individual Etudes, but also achieving a
cumulative effect of hearing them in sequence from beginning to end. Once more
virtuosity was evident in spades, but Boepple never permitted it to interfere
with the primary goal of making these works exquisite pieces of music. One of
the most successful of the etudes, and normally not one of my favorites, was the
“Octave” etude in which Boepple’s virtuosic abandon created a Titanic
performance that took us right over the top. I don’t know about him, but I felt
exhausted when it was over. Another etude that is also not one of my favorites,
the D-flat Major Etude in sixths was also surprisingly effective. The more
popular “Winter Wind,” “Double Thirds” and the final C Minor etudes also made a
terrific impact, and we had in addition satisfying lyrical and expressive
moments in the “Aeolian Harp” Etude and in the C-sharp Minor cello-like etude.
At the end of the recital,
Boepple received a rousing standing ovation and a small parade of students and
fans trooping up on stage to present him with enough bouquets of flowers to
decorate his home and his studio for a month. He rewarded his audience with one
encore, the Prelude in A-flat Major from Op. 28. This was one of the most
heartfelt performances of this lovely Prelude that I have ever heard. Normally a
miniature, in his hands it was another masterpiece.
