Gershwin : Rhapsody in Blue
Bernstein : Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (trans. John Musto)
Colin McPhee : Balinese Ceremonial Music
Percy Grainger : Porgy and Bess Fantasy
David Lively, piano
Jay Gottlieb, piano
Recitals for two pianos are rare - it's both expensive and cumbersome to install two pianos for the event, particularly for a summer festival that uses venues not normally adapted for the purpose, such as Romanesque churches. There's also not a whole lot of repertory for such a combination, and the players have to resort to arrangements and transcriptions. However, there's plenty of imaginative territory to be explored there, as this programme of American music amply demonstrated.
Because Gershwin himself had a tendency to play his music as fast as he possibly could - and that was very fast indeed - many performances in recent years, in my opinion, have equally tended to be somewhat helter-skelter, sacrificing eloquence for razzle-dazzle. That was not the case tonight, this was a nicely calculated, laid-back reading, though not sluggish in any way, but with a good balance of energy and expressiveness, with Lively playing the solo piano part, and Gottlieb the orchestral transcription. However, it's a very busy score in this form, a great many notes to be negotiated, and the heavily reverberant acoustic of the church played against it, blurring the sound too much. Also, one of the pianists (Gottlieb, I think) was inclined to rather thump down on his pedals at moments of emphasis, and as the pianos were sitting on a wooden platform, that created a slightly distracting percussive effect not always ideally placed in the music. John Musto's generally fine arrangement of the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story was rather better suited to the acoustic, with a leaner, crisper sound. Only the Mambo, very thickly scored and too complex, and "Cool", taken a little too fast, detracted from the atmospheric performance.
On the other hand, the euphonious clangour of the Canadian composer Colin McPhee's Balinese ceremonial music came across as ideal for the venue, the hollow chime of the imitation gamelan and the steady revolutions of what may be considered an early precursor of repetitive music filling the space with a heady, exotic halo of sound, quite captivating. Finally, a pot-pourri of melodies from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess selected and arranged by the Australian maverick composer Percy Grainger with his inimitable flair. Sometimes very close to the Gershwin original (and particularly the orchestral suite Gershwin made from it), at other times Grainger only hints at some of the better known songs, or exploits lesser known numbers, like the Venders' Trio. Again, the two pianists gave a colourful, lively performance, with a well-judged mix of exuberance and lyricism. A drier acoustic would have benefitted the whole concert considerably, but Lively and Gottlieb nevertheless delivered a strong programme, full of vitality and affection.
[Next : 19th August]
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