Pianist Robert Schwartz stars in a “Zen” Piano Recital at Cabrillo College: By Richard Lynde
Pianist Robert Schwartz Performs Brilliantly At Cabrillo: Review by Josef Sekon, Watsonville Register-PajaronianLooking like a tall, think Buddha dressed all in black, San Francisco pianist Robert Schwartz delighted his audience at the Cabrillo Theater on September 25 on the Cabrillo College Distinguished Artists Concert & Lecture Series with a memorable recital that was the essence of “Zen.” Relaxed and meditative at the keyboard, he presented a sequence of numbers with effortless ease, completely disappearing into the music and letting it speak for itself. Schwarz is not only a “pianist’s pianist,” on account of his masterful technique, uncanny pedaling, and complete control of structure, but an “audience pianist” as well, who immediately drew usual in with his opening number.
In an unusual touch, the recital began with selections out of Old Father Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I,” first the playful “Prelude and Fugue in B Flat Major,” followed by the more somber ones in B Flat Minor. Readily apparent were the melodies of the preludes and the counterpoints of the fugues, done in clear and straightforward readings and without any mannerisms whatsoever of the pianist.
From the Baroque of Bach we were transported into the romantic era in an early “Sonata in B Major, D. 575” by Franz Schubert. Up until a few years ago most of the piano works of this composer were dismissed as trifles, except for his impromptus, “Wanderer” fantasy, and a few late sonatas. This was a delightful work that had many in the audience applauding between its four movements, which contained some elements of surprising dissonance along with the heavenly melodies for which this composer is famous. Indeed, his works as a whole are full of songs without end.
Another interesting matter concerning this work is its key signature of B Major. My letter published as “The Key to It All” in the summer issue of PIANO TODAY asks the question if any major works have been composed in this tonality. Their expert Joseph Smith will be answering in the next issue, along with the publication of “a lovely piece of Paderewski” (to pick up on, this visit www.pianotoday.com).
My query to the magazine was based on having read, years ago, the opinion that no significant works had been written in this difficult key. But now, even without the interest of the magazine, I can tell one and all that “Yes, Virginia, very fine music may be composed in B Major?” Robert Schwartz proved this by his performance.
The big work of the evening was “Etudes, Book II” by Claude Debussy. Composed following the first set in the midst of World War I, when the composer was frustrated by the conflict as well as slowly dying of cancer, the whole thing transcends not only this composer’s earlier innovations today termed “impressionism,” but proves he still had more to say. Book I deals mainly with principles of harmony, while Book II deals with principles of texture, sonority and tone color. The “Etudes” not only look to the past with a nod to Czerny, homage to Couperin and Chopin, but in “Book II” are prophetic of Messiaen, Boulez, and even Stockhausen.
Number 1 is translated as “for chromatic degrees,” No. 2 as “for the ornaments/charms,” No. 3 as “for repeated notes,” done pianissimo and in whole tones. No. 4 took us back to Bach with its “opposed sonorities” (counterpoint), followed by No. 5 with its shimmerings “for arpeges.” The grand finale, No. 6, is “ for the agreements,” a virtuoso section and very percussive, with fiendishly difficult skips of the hands in opposite directions. Before starting the set, the pianist gently requested that the audience not applaud until the end: “ Each one creates its own mood and atmosphere, and we don’t want to spoil them.” They were exquisitely rendered. If you missed the recital, I suggest you enjoy the VHS tape made in 1989 for Philips, on which Mitsuko Uchida both explains the Etudes ( in German, for about 23 minutes) then plays them through.
For our one encore, Robert Schwartz played a major work – the Liszt
paraphrase on “Rigoletto,” singing out the melodies amid colorful
ornamentation, tossing off the pearlescent runs and awesome arpeggios flawlessly.
Way back in 1975 this pianist won the coveted Ravel Prize at the Marguerite
Long International Competition, beating out formidable contestants in Paris.
Those of us who were fortunate to have heard him here can only marvel at his
masterful interpretations which have built upon that early success to proclaim
him now a “Zen master of the keyboard.”
10-2004
A microscopic line represents many times the distinction between virtuosity and artistry, however, to pianists and aficionados of the classical piano repertoire, Robert Schwartz’s performance of Saturday the 25th at Cabrillo College left no question, it was all pure artistry!
The Cabrillo College Distinguished Artists and Lecture Series Directed
by John Orlando, D.M.A., opened the 2004-05 season with certainly one of the
most spectacular piano
performances that I have ever had the grand pleasure of experiencing. Robert
Schwartz performed a concert consisting of two lesser known Preludes and Fugues
from The
Well Tempered Clavier Book I by Johann Sebastian Bach. They were Prelude and
Fugue XXI in Bb Major and Prelude and Fugue XXII in Bb Minor. The second work
was also not a familiar work from the standard repertoire, Franz Schubert’s
Sonata in B Major D. 575 followed by an intermission and Claude Debussy’s
Etudes Deuxieme Livre. There was an encore also of spectacular dimensions,
Franz Liszt’s Paraphrase on a Theme from Verdi’s Opera, Rigoletto.
I had never heard Robert Schwartz perform before and in all honesty I admit
to never having heard of him. After having heard Saturday’s concert I
understand fully that this
has been a huge oversight on my part. Hugh Wolff of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
states that Robert Schwartz is one of the finest pianists of his generation.
This is said with a degree of modesty and could be easily cover more time in
retrospect as well. Of the numerous awards and honors Mr. Schwartz has won,
one in particular is worthy of note. In 1975, Mr. Schwartz won the coveted
Ravel Prize at the Marguerite Long International
Competition, held Paris, France. He has also toured and performed in numerous
cities in the USA and abroad. In 1983 he made his New York debut at Merkin
Concert Hall on the
concert series of the American Landmarks Festivals. Originally form Sacramento,
and after having resided in New York City for some fifteen years, Mr. Schwartz
now makes
his home in San Francisco. Of interest, Robert Schwartz holds a Bachelor’s
Degree from Indiana University, A Masters Degree from Julliard and a Doctor
of Musical Arts
from the Manhattan School of Music.
Seventeen of Bach’s Fugues from Book I start off the beat and eight start
on the beat. Much to the audience’s pleasure, Robert Schwartz performed
one of each. The 32nd notes of the Bb Major Prelude were beautifully and delicately
performed and carried over into the left hand with meaningful clarity and passage.
The four voices of the Fugue were very reminiscent of actual voices, each entering
time and space with perfect dynamic balance filling the contrapuntal texture.
Of equal interest was the Fugue XXII, with its three voices and no counter
subject. The final nine measures of this Fugue realize successive subject and
answer entries in strict stretto fashion, a point that Mr. Schwartz performed
again with musical clarity and excellent balance and wonderfully closed with
appropriate style and elegance. With the Bach works and those to follow, it
was immediately obvious to all that Robert Schwartz had transformed the Cabrillo
Theater into a 19th century salon-like ambiance with his marvelous playing.
The Schubert work is unique indeed with its more or less uncommon key changes as Mr. Schwartz made a point to bring to the attention of the audience prior to his performance. Again, he performed with a high degree of insight and perfection.
The Debussy Etudes were of particular magnificence as Mr. Schwartz demonstrated his insight, flawless keyboard wizardry, musical introspection, and gifted artistry.
The six Debussy Etudes reflect on six performance aspects
employed in works for the piano repertoire. The first centers on chromaticism,
the second on embellishment, the
third on repeated notes, the fourth on opposed sonorities, the fifth on arpeggios
and the sixth on chords. Each of these Etudes was performed with astonishing
intellectual depth, acute musical perception and virtuosic brilliance. The
delicate touch, balance of hands, perfectly rounded phrasing and completely
natural, unrushed time of entry was simply spectacular in each and every aspect.
The flight of Robert Schwartz’s fingers and hands in Etude number one “Chromatiques” created
an atmosphere of a balmy breeze that invisibly whisked over the keyboard producing
one of those moments impossible to describe, only experience. I must admit
along with most, if not all present that this was truly a very special musical
experience. Robert Schwartz is a pianist NOT to be missed!
JOSEF SEKON, D.M.A.
10-2004
The fall season of the Cabrillo College Distinguished Artist Concert and
Lecture Series got off to a strong start last Saturday, with a performance
by virtuoso pianist Robert Schwartz. The San Francisco-based musician presented
a program rich with musical history and the evolution of harmony in western
classical music. Schwartz, a graduate of Julliard and the Manhattan School
of Music, integrated insightful lectures into the performance, adding depth
to the concert and allowing the captive audience to peer into the minds of
a few of history's most revered composers.
Schwartz began the program with a playful piece by J.S. Bach, "Prelude
and Fugue in B flat major." Its cheerful mood gave way then to
the more somber and serious timbre of Bach's "Prelude and Fugue in B
flat minor," exemplifying the different atmospheres created by major
and minor keys in western music.
The Bach section of the show seemed to lay the groundwork for what was to come,
much in the same way as Bach's music had done for future classical and romantic
composers. Bach's seemingly simple, and stirringly familiar harmonies resonated
with elegant perfection, as Schwartz played with remarkable ease.
Following the Bach segments, Schwartz paid homage to the German romantic composer
Franz Schubert, whose compositions, full of dissonance and unexpected harmonic
progressions, seemed to extend upon the ideas of Bach. Schwarz appeared to
be leading the audience on an expedition, exploring the profound evolution
of tonality and harmony that was forged by composers like Bach and Schubert.
Next up on Schwartz' guided tour was an exploration of works by a master of
controlled dissonance, French composer Claude Debussy. Debussy's work, as
played by Schwartz, seemed to be a departure from the perfect harmonies of
Bach and Schubert. Debussy's "pour les Arpege composes" and "pour
les Accords" were masterfully treated by the virtuoso pianist, and the
full measure of Debussy's quirky, yet haunting compositional style came out
in Schwartz' presentations of these works. As the performer himself quipped,
had he been paid by the note, he would have been financially "well off"
after performing these substantial pieces.
The jewel of the night came as an
unscripted encore, after Schwartz returned to the stage to receive a standing
ovation. Schwartz was anything but finished, and he took up his piano bench
once more to deliver an astounding performance of a piece composed by Franz
Lizst. Considered one of the most
difficult composers to have ever written for the piano, Lizst wrote exceedingly
complex arrangements. Schwartz left no doubt that he was capable of performing
the most difficult of compositions, following his rousing rendition of this
work. Unbelievable flourishes of notes flowed from Schwartz' fingertips into
the stunned audience, and Schwartz was again graced with a standing ovation.
Kudos goes out to series director John Orlando for kicking off the Distinguished
Artist’s Series' 20th fall season with this virtuoso performance.
10-2004
A good turnout on the sunny Sunday afternoon of June 13 was treated to a truly memorable, indeed spectacular, display of pianism by the youngish British artist Andrew Wilde. The occasion was Program Four of the Spring & Summer Series of John Orlando’s Distinguished Artists Concert & Lecture Series under the auspices of Cabrillo College. The venue was the year old Roman Catholic Resurrection Church in Aptos. The instrument was parishioner and benefactor Ernest (“Bud”) Kretschmer”s little 1914 Steinway grand Model “A” at 6’ 4 ½.”
The program opened with a Schubert (1797-1828) “Allegretto in C Minor,” a late brief work probably originally conceived as part of a sonata. The Allegretto unfolded very slowly and deliberately under Wilde’s hands, its soothing and religious strains immediately recognizable as by the Viennese composer near the end of his days. Its hypnotic repetition, like many slow movements of the last sonatas on recordings, is wonderful background to hear while you are doing interior house painting, as it helps keep a steady hand on the brush.
Beethoven (1770-1827) composed the most famous piano piece ever in his first movement of the “Moonlight” Sonata, Op. 27, No. 2 (1801), an incredibly mysterious and haunting section, which Wilde played in an extremely straightforward manner, as written, without the over-dramatics. Famous by mediocre amateur pianists such as myself. The minuet was sprightly, but not mincing, though on occasion it was touched with wilder elements that suggested a peasant wedding dance such as painted by Brueghel. The third movement was intense and “passionate” as well as “tempestuous,” foreshadowing both of those to later named works, but done with utter clarity. Indeed, at this point (if one had not already noticed) the striking physical resemblance of Andrew Wilde to Beethoven himself, in their short stocky power and broad flat faces, was apparent. The audience marveled at his conception and performance.
During Intermission the women’s Guild of the Parish served up a frosty punch along with home-made cookies and brownies, at which time Bud Kretschmer, on an outing from Dominican Oaks, revealed that on July 29 he will, indeed, be 90, the same age, give or take a few weeks or months, as his piano.
For a smallish instrument, the old Steinway held up, as it always does, under tremendous strain, sounding as big as a seven foot Yamaha but with a mellower tone. On it, Wilde resumed with a favorite suite by Schumann (1810-56), his “Scenes from Childhood, Op. 15” (1838), some “cute little things, “as he called the set of 13 program pieces, with the notation that they are recollections written by an adult for grownups. What an imagination had this composer, in tying together all sorts of emotions skillfully brought out by seemingly simple (yet structurally complex and interpretively demanding) impressions, from the opening “Of Foreign Lands and Peoples” to the concluding “The Poet Speaks, “with such subjects as a strange man, a wild hobby-horse ride, a boogeyman, a place by the fire, and a child falling asleep in between. And don’t forget the most famous of all, “Dreaming,” the final encore of Horowits in Moscow that had the audience in tears.
In this nostalgic and whimsical work Wilde demonstrated, as he did throughout the afternoon, an absolute mastery of the emotion in the music, via a complete understanding of its architecture. Yes, as one blurb review was quoted as stating, he did draw in his audience” who were rapt and wrapped up in each and every piece, here as elsewhere done just right, with no false feelings or keyboard mannerisms of any sort.
Chopin (1810-49) came next, with his big “Scherzos,” No. 1 in B Minor” Op. 20 and “No. 2 in B Flat Minor,” both from the mid-late 1830’s. These are extraordinarily difficult and demanding works, and in presenting them Wilde rose to a demonic intensity reminiscent of such great Soviet pianists as Gilels and Richer, “going for broke” at the highest level of energy but winning every time. Standing ovations followed each of these monumental works.
For encores, we heard a couple more Chopin works. The mellow “Nocturne in D Flat, Op. 27, No. 2” from around 1835, dedicated to an admirer, the Countess D’Appony.
Five years before the composer’s death, and was dedicated to the Scottish Jane Stirling, Chopin’s pupil and benefactress. Here we heard spun out this delicious night song of love as a beautiful aria set off by ornamentation around the melody and an imaginative bass underscoring.
The finale was the composer’s most famous Polonaise, his “Heroic in A Flat, Op. 53” (1842), now almost a national anthem in his homeland of Poland. In 1999 while on a Chopin Tour in that country, I heard the great Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire perform this work while being videoed at a festival. Of course it showed up in the news clips throughout the country.
Andrew Wilde’s performance here locally was perhaps even more passionate and intense. Indeed, I would have to agree with London critics who have put him right up there with the greatest icons of British pianism from over half a century ago, by naming him a worth successor to Dame Myra Hess and Solomon (Cutner). If he can make this much out of a little piano, imagine what he might be able to do on an Italian Fazioli, Model A 308, at 10’ 2”.
The night before this concert, I viewed a DVD
of the celebrated young Russian Eugeny Kissin, playing to an enthusiastic
throng of almost 6000 during the Proms Concert at Royal Albert Hall in
1997. While our group numbered only slightly over 200, and was done in a
small space, the big difference was that while Kissin played around a dozen
encores, Andrew Wilde only did a couple. But what we just heard live was
equally well done. Only time will tell if this British keyboard genius will
go on to receive the kind of fame he already deserves.
10-2004