 |
|
He
surprised the audience, and the critic: Richard Goode.
PHOTO: Michael Wilson
|
A
Smashing Opener
By
B.A. Nilsson
Richard Goode
Union
College Concert Series, Memorial Chapel, Oct. 11
Richard Goode gained as much acclaim and attention as a classical-music
artist is likely to get with his recordings of the complete
piano sonatas by Beethoven, a formidable journey that he traversed
with uncommon brio.
We
had a taste of that last week when he closed the first half
of an impressive recital with Beethoven’s “Moonlight” sonata,
that warhorse of warhorses. Sighs of audience recognition
punctuated the beginning of the piece, with its measured right-hand
triplets and plaintive left-hand drone, a reaction that probably
turned to surprise (it did with me) as Goode established a
brisk tempo and unusually relentless pulse.
Too fast? Not to my taste. There’s a “to be or not to be”
quality to the opening of that sonata: It’s so famous that
you’re tempted simply to get it over with. But I didn’t hear
that in Goode’s approach, which pulsed with appropriate wistfulness,
avoiding the too-easy route of shrouding the movement with
melancholy.
This approach made more meaningful the little scherzo that
follows, a lighthearted interlude that sets you up for a big,
Beethoven surprise: the tumultuous finale, bursting forth
with the fury of a tantrum and finishing so fortississimo
that the Steinway’s strings seemed to be banging into
one another.
And that was it for the warhorse part of the program. Four
other composers were represented with more than a dozen other
works, beginning with a wonderful survey of not-so-well-known
pieces by Bach.
Should works written for harpsichord or organ be performed
on the piano? I doubt that the debate ever will end, but ever
since Glenn Gould famously claimed the Goldberg Variations
for the modern keyboard, there’s been credible ammo on both
sides. Goode opened a Bach set (and the recital itself) with
the Prelude and Fugue in G minor, a lively start that
right away established the pianist’s decidedly non-Romantic
leanings—no Edwin Fischer he. And we got our first taste of
Goode’s fleet finger work in the fugue, a movement characterized
by a repeated note that tipped you off to each new voice.
Five sinfonias (three-part inventions) wove through major
and minor keys as well as thoughtful and exuberant personalities,
finishing with the enigmatic E-flat major sinfonia, a puzzle
of a piece that reveals itself slowly.
Haydn’s Sonata in D major crackles with the composer’s
celebrated wit. The opening allegro is merry flurry of turns
and flourishes, which still didn’t prepared me for the un-adagio-like
adagio that followed, with a cute but busy melody over pulsing
left-hand chords. And then, wham! Right into a merry presto
laced with surprises, not least of which was its abrupt, amusing
finish.
That aforementioned Beethoven sonata finale drastically changed
the mood of the concert, setting up the second half’s array
of works by Debussy and Chopin. Three well-chosen Debussy
preludes kicked off with the evocative Cathédral engloutie
(Engulfed Cathedral), performed with a well-controlled
dynamic sense that build it to an exciting climax. The wispy
Ondine led to General Lavine—Eccentric, with
its jazzy but very Debussy-an licks.
Chopin’s Impromptu in F-sharp Minor has a French feel
to its melody, at least until the trademark Chopin filigree
comes in, making it an effective transition piece. Goode made
easy work of three mazurkas, the last of which, in C-sharp
Minor, is an episodic-seeming piece the unity of which the
pianist revealed.
And then it was on to the Nocturne in B Major—a tuneful
(naturally) study with stormy moments of ornamental zeal,
but which finished softly enough to make a quiet segue to
the program closer, the Polonaise in F-sharp. This
was Goode at his best, and I lost myself entirely in the splendor
of the piece and thus have nothing to report. Except that
this was a brilliant opening concert for the latest (36th
annual!) Union College Concert Series.
|
Site
Search 
