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Jonathan Biss, piano
Benjamin Hochman, piano
James Deitz, percussion
Ayano Kataoka, percussion
Masters of the Keyboard
92nd Street Y – Tisch Center for the Arts
www.92Y.org
Sophia Jackson, 92nd St Y Press
Shuman Associates Inc., Press
Nikolas J. Lund
November 15, 2006
Program:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Sonata in F Major for Piano Four Hands, K. 497 (1786)
Adagio: Allegro di molto
Andante
Allegro
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Fantasie in F minor for Piano Four Hands, D.940 (1828)
Allegro molto moderato; Largo; Allegro Vivace; Tempo I
Robert Schumann (1810-1856) (arr. Claude Debussy)
Six Pieces in Canonic Form for Pedal Piano, O. 56 (1845)
Nicht schnell
Mit innigem Ausdruck
Andantino
Innig
Nicht zu schnell
Adagio
Bela Bartók (1881-1945)
Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, BB.115 (1937)
Assai lento; Allegro molto
Lento, ma non troppo
Allegro non troppo
Tonight’s concert at the 92nd Street Y presented pianists Jonathan Biss and Benjamin Hochman as the latest installment in their ongoing “Masters of the Keyboard” series. Reading over the biographies of these artists before the concert began, I wondered to myself if Messieurs Biss and Hochman—25 and 26 years old respectively—were actually of an age to lay true claim to a “mastery” of the piano. Surely such a mastery is not in the eye (or ear) of the ticket holder?
Putting those questions aside, tonight’s program was one which definitely chartered challenging musical territory, winding a dense path through the fringe repertoires of the four-handed piano literature. The format of four-handed piano music contains within it the kernel of something which always yields a certain exciting spectacle, and the relative rareness of a four-handed piano concert at present day was at very least something which promised works lesser performed and heard.
The first item on the bill was Mozart’s Sonata in F major for Piano Four Hands (K.497). It is a work from 1786 and shows us the composer working at his greatest thematic extremes. The first movement lures one into an instantly unexpected Adagio, which disorients with its placement of broad and marked rhythmic variations over a formal pattern which is made all the more unusual for Mozart by its considerable breadth. The Andante which follows provides rhythmic release from the Mozartean weirdness of the first movement, but still does not give away any cheaply-won resolution in its scalar lyricism. But then finally, in the Allegro, Mozart gives us the Rondo and lets us breathe a sigh of relief. The piece was played tonight with an eye to all of its strangeness, and took each curious turn as a moment for clear-headed but creative exploration. For all its ponderousness though, the interpretation never ran afoul of its course, and set the pace for a concert which held its tread well through the rest of the evening.
The Schubert F-minor Fantasie (D.940), which came next, is a masterpiece of music which forces a transcendence of all questions regarding its orchestration. And in the end, it will always be no more or less than another of those works from Schubert’s final year, in which one can only recognize the perfection of musical architecture to a point of such refinement that its greatest moments of potential energy finally always occur in those glorious returns where the composer brings us back to that one single, simple lyric utterance. The returns were ALL played tonight, and the architecture was built to its greatest heights. If anything, the pianists might be criticized for not going even further into the dream world of this piece—but then, perhaps it is advisable that a young musician only follow Schubert so far in his Fantasy-ing…
Robert Schumann’s Six Pieces in Canonic Form for Pedal Piano (arranged by Claude Debussy!) were perhaps the surprising offering on the program tonight. The pieces presented a Schumann of the most rigorous bearing, bringing forth richly-rendered counterpoint from the now TWO pianos on the stage in works that seemed stark in comparison with those effectively overly-canonical Schumann works one hears so often. And, as a two-piano reduction from the long-obsolete pedal piano prepared by one of the titans of the modernist epoch (Debussy), the works represent a sort of knowing nod from a figure standing on the brink of the Salon-era, evoking the end of an era in which the four-hand piano arrangement found a richness in a vanished past worth celebrating.
But even when the salon vanishes, the concert hall remains, and Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion presents a display of orchestration demanding a space with generous acoustic range. The Kaufman Concert Hall proved to be a perfect place to hear this work, and the musicians (despite an occasional tympanic confusion between more jagged sections) confronted the challenge of the piece with great aplomb. It is always difficult to say what one thinks of Bartók musically, but his chamber music undoubtedly requires a spirit poised between interpretation and ecstatic invention, and the reading tonight preserved a certain improvisational sensibility that made the piece entirely engageable. Biss and Hochman were here joined by percussionists James Dietz and Ayano Kataoka, who brought the number of young, attractive musicians on the stage to an edifying four.
The concert overall was highly commendable for its increasingly energetic pacing and direct historical consideration of the four-handed piano format. The music was indeed refreshing in its unfamiliarity, and the musicians succeeded in avoiding all the pedantry and introspection which threatens obscure repertoire. And, as far as the question of “mastery” is concerned, I would venture to say that Biss and Hochman are both well on their way in their careers towards realizations of masterful designs. And while this two-part format served to reveal the significant differences between their musical temperaments, they both played with great poise and sophistication, and projected a presence years ahead of itself.
The 92nd Street remains, between its gorgeous space and top-rate programming, one of the finest venues in the city. The upcoming season is well worth exploring and the ongoing exhibitions in their adjoined Makor Art Gallery provide a moment of visual diversion in between musical ones.
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