(A condensed version of this review will appear in the
Carmel Pine Cone on Friday, November 6)
When the Carmel Music Society announced its new season earlier this year, eyebrows were raised when it was revealed that the season opener would be a solo recital by a little-known 21-year-old Russian trumpeter named Sergei Nakarikov.
In our music library we have a three-inch thick annotated guide to solo music for the piano. Right next to it is a slim half-inch thick volume describing the entire solo literature of the violin
and viola. If there were an annotated guide to the solo literature for the trumpet (which there isn't), it would probably consist of two pages, and most of the items would be transcriptions, not original compositions.
During the weeks preceding the appearance of Mr. Nakariakov we were bombarded on our local FM station with spot announcements about this young "Paganini of the Trumpet." Featured in the background under the voice-over commercial, was a trumpet transcription of a violin bonbon containing an endless succession of rapidly played notes. The announcer implied that this was not "diddle-diddle" music, but it most assuredly was.
So, when Mr. Nakariakov finally stepped out on Sunset Center's stage on Tuesday evening, how did he do? Was he indeed the "Paganini of the Trumpet" or was it all "diddle-diddle" music? Well, I am pleased to report that Mr. Nakariakov is without any question a sold and impressive musician, as well as being a virtuoso of the highest order. There is little he cannot do on the trumpet (and on the flugelhorn as well, since he treated us to generous samples of his skills on that instrument as well).
In his opening aria from Pergolesi's
Stabat Mater Nakariakov demonstrated awesome breath control and a wide variety of dynamics that he used to shape phrases in a most exquisite manner. In the Vivaldi work that followed we heard not only the lovely singing qualities he had shown in the Pergolesi, but also samples of his phenomenal technical facility as he wove his way with delicacy and grace through the most difficult passages.
Works played on the flugelhorn during the program provided another glimpse of Nakariakov's unique gifts, and the
Andante by Richard Strauss made an especially strong impression. At the end of the program Nakariakov pulled out all the stops and wowed us with his trumpet virtuoso tricks in Arban's Variations on a Tyrolian Song and two fabulous encores,
Hora Staccato and The Carnival of Venice. A third encore was a lovely piece by a Japanese composer written for Mr. Nakariakov.
Assisting Nakariakov in this recital was his sister Vera Narakiakova, who is a strong pianist in her own right and a very capable ensemble partner. She also appeared as a soloist on this program playing two selections by Chopin (the Mazurka in A Minor, Op. 17, and the Nocturne in C Minor, Op. 48), Schumann's
Widmung and Scriabin's
Deux Poëmes. Ms. Nakariakova showed occasional flashes of beauty in her playing, but for the most part it was heavy handed and bangy. Some might call her playing representative of the Arnold Schwarzenegger school of piano playing ("I am going to pound your piano into submission. Have a nice day").
Unfortunately this program consisted only of short transcriptions. If flutist James Galway can knock our socks off with his transcription of the Franck Violin Sonata, I am sure that Mr. Nakariakov can accomplish some similar feat. Let's hope that the next time we hear Mr. Nakariakov, he will be playing works of greater substance, and I won't leave the concert hall until he plays "Flight of the Bumblebee" as an encore.
The Carmel Music Society's next presentation will be the Beaux Arts Trio on November 30.
End
