From Franck to Rachmaninoff: Titos Gouvelis, piano, Megaron, the Athens Concert Hall, 21.5.2008 (BM)

Titos Gouvelis

Not only is Titos Gouvelis one of Greece’s most distinguished young pianists, he also knows how to put together a fascinating program, an ability not all recitalists share to an equal degree. The audience gathered at the Megaron’s so-called “small” auditorium, the Dimitris Mitropoulos Hall, was in for such a treat: a demanding assortment of works by five composers (eight, actually - including the encores) spanning the romantic and contemporary periods.

Kicking off with an apt choice for a pianist who has also made a name for himself as an organist, Gouvelis played César Franck’s lovely Prelude, Fugue and Variations (arranged for the piano by H. Bauer), an example of one of the rich musical forms chosen by this romantic composer during the second half of the 19^th century and performed with great fluidity and sensitivity.

This was followed by a enthralling keyboard rendition of “Schach Brügge”, from Korngold’s, Die Tote Stadt, an opera premiered in 1920 when the composer was a mere 23 years old. Although he enjoyed world-wide popularity during the twenties, this fame was to wane considerably later on, and his work is only recently experiencing a bit of a revival – to which Gouvelis is clearly happy to contribute, luckily for us, as the piece he chose was one on which Korngold undoubtedly lavished everything he had to offer (quite a bit, in his case), teeming with ideas and melodic inventiveness.

The last offering before intermission was Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin, a piece dedicated to those who left their lives in World War I and a wonderful example of the wealth of harmony and timbre introduced by this impressionist composer - and to which full justice was done with a full-tilt, exhilarating performance.

The two more “mainstream” selections on the evening’s program made up the second portion of the recital: Brahms’ Klavierstücke op. 118, arguably some of the most beautiful succinct pieces written for the piano during the romantic period, and a significant element of the composer’s late oeuvre (here our pianist’s approach was perhaps rather less adventurous – e.g., the predictable way in which the repetitions in the poignant A major intermezzo were handled – but on the other hand, there is nothing inherently wrong with that) followed by Rachmaninoff’s exquisite Sonata no. 2 in b flat minor, rendered with a dexterity and Russianesque flair worthy of the great pianist who composed it.

No less than three encores followed the rousing applause, clearly illustrating Gouvelis’ taste for the not-so-mainstream: the 2^nd of Three Argentinean Dances by Ginastera, a Toccatina, opus 36, by Nikolai Kapustin – get a load of those rhythms at www.nikolaikapustin.net, and I wonder whether his music has been performed in Greece before? – and the March from Prokofiev’s opera “The Love for Three Oranges”, arranged for piano by the composer himself.

The way Gouvelis presents his romantic repertoire without the faintest trace of sentimentality is extremely gratifying. And throughout the evening, I was impressed by how this artist, though obviously a virtuoso who takes pleasure in performing, has no interest whatsoever in exhibiting himself. Utterly focused on the music, at this recital he succeeded in creating moments during which time seemed to stand still – you can’t ask for much more than that.

Bettina Mara


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