Aspen Music Festival (11): Slatkin with Gilad, Oundjian with O'Conor, Fliter recital. Aspen, Colorado. 13.8.2007 (HS)

 

This was largely a weekend for pianists. Ingrid Fliter wrestled with Beethoven and Chopin in her recital Thursday and eventually triumphed with an exuberant encore of music from her native Argentina. On Friday, Jonathan Gilad fashioned a mellow, delicately-wrought performance of Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1. And Sunday, John O'Conor provided a subdued but nicely detailed Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4.

But the highlight turned out to be a vivid, energetic performance of Stravinsky's ballet music for "Petrushka." Conductor Leonard Slatkin got plenty of pizzazz out of the Aspen Festival Orchestra, playing on Friday night instead of its usual Sunday slot. The orchestra's (mostly) crisp ensemble playing and one great solo turn after another made the "Petrushka" a joyful romp. Most notable was pianist Louise Chan, but special mention should also go to Nadin Asin's artfully phrased flute solo and the whole trumpet section, individually and as a group.

In the Chopin concerto, Gilad handled the melodies with refinement and the flashy runs with precision. Slatkin provided sensitive accompaniment. What was missing was the wild, unruly, passionate side of Chopin. The program opened with an early piece by Ned Rorem, whose operatic setting of "Our Town" made a significant impression here last summer. "Lions (A Dream)" contrasts a soft halo of string chords with a jazz combo and dissonant uprisings from the orchestra.

In her recital Thursday in Harris Hall, Ingrid Fliter couldn't wait to get to the piano and start playing. She strode on stage, bowed quickly and deeply to the full house, turning to acknowledge the overflow crowd seated on stage. A bundle of nervous energy in a clingy brown gown, she slid onto the bench, brushed her tousled blond hair from her eyes and started playing. No pretense at staring into the distance to focus, no long silences before diving into the music.

Fliter proved an impetuous interpreter. She has an opinion about the music, about every turn, every phrase, every tone color, every rhythmic gesture, and it's almost as if she can't wait to express it. And she has the technique and the intellect to pull it off. Every time a phrase repeated, she gave it a different inflection so it felt fresh, giving the music shape and texture. It made for an exhilarating evening of pianism.

In Beethoven's Sonata No. 7 in D major, she brought a playful touch to the proceedings, favoring quick tempos, pauses that felt improvised, executing scales with real flair.

In a string of seven Chopin pieces, a set of three waltzes formed a kind of quasi-sonata. The Waltz in A flat major Op. 42, which starts with an unusual two-against-three rhythm, develops its themes almost like a sonata. The famous Waltz in C-sharp minor Op. 64 no. 2, with its wistful theme, served as a sort of slow movement for contrast, and the Waltz in E-flat major Op. 18, with its rip-snorting coda, made a dramatic finale. Fliter's attention to fresh phrasing, unabashed rubato and dynamic contrasts was endlessly absorbing, if unusually robust for Chopin.

The delicate ending of the Mazurka in A minor Op. 59 no. 1 let Fliter use it as a sort of seamless prelude to the great Ballade No. 4 in F minor. The ballade's opening theme, with Chopin's endless variations, gave Fliter more opportunities to apply her own glosses, as if turning a diamond in the light to see it sparkle, setting it down gently before the fiery coda. The encore, Ginastera's Danza del Gaucho Matrero, gave the Argentina-born pianist a chance to show off music by a countryman and a riveting sense of rhythmic power.

Sunday's concert challenged the all-student Sinfonia, which had spent the early part of the summer in the pit for "Cosi fan tutte" and "Carmen," and conductor Peter Oundjian, with not only the Beethoven piano concerto but Mahler's Fourth Symphony. Granted, it's the composer's lightest symphony, but it's still Mahler and requires a bit more sustained concentration and willingness to skate to the edge than the students could muster. Oundjian tried to compensate with relatively quick tempos, which made the music less sardonic in the scherzo and less spacious in the dreamlike slow movement.

Harvey Steiman
 

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