Tuesday 7 July, 1998 Victoria Concert Hall	5th International Piano Festival
	ROBERT SCHUMANN Symphonic Studies, op.13 (1834-7, rev.1852) MAURICE RAVEL Valses Nobles et Sentimentales (1911) SERGEI RACHMANINOV Sonata No.2 in B-flat minor (1913, rev.1931) Artur PIZARRO piano

OVERALL NOISE RATING: 4.5 (Generally all diehard pianophiles once again. However due to the fact that there was this toddler moving and whispering in front of me, I had to move to fully enjoy the Rachmaninov in the 2nd half, but as usual, digital watches which sounded like beeping Big Bens went off.)

The Noise Rating Index is a partially-objective measurement of pager and handphone blasts, 9pm and 10pm watch beeps, coughing-during-the-pianissimo-bits, intra-audience conversation and other mind-bogglingly inept noises emitted in the concert hall during actual performance of music. It is measured on a scale of 0 to 5, in increasing annoyance.

Piano Fest tickets for Inkpot classical music reviewers have been kindly sponsored by Singapore Symphonia Company.

Artur Pizarro (right) is no stranger to the concert stage, having taken the 1990 Harvey Leeds Piano Competition in what I have been told was a unanimous decision. Past winners have included Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia and Vladimir Ovchinnikov. Last year I had the opportunity to listen to the Third Prize winner in that competition, Noriko Ogawa; and I can only speculate that the standard must have been really tough judging by the fact that she only managed Third Prize. It leaves you wondering what it takes to be a winner.

As usual, for some reason the third day of the Piano Fest always tends to be the best night. In the past few festivals we have had Piotr Anderszewski (1997), and Boris Berman(taking over from the indisposed Andrei Gavrilov in 1996). The third-day pianist for this year is no exception to these high-quality names.

In this Piano Fest "Lightning" series, Pizarro, who is of Portugese descent, had chosen three very different works from the Romantic period. The first piece, Schumann's Symphonic Etudes has not always been a favorite of mine. It can often sound pedantic, boring or ordinary in the hands of a mediocre pianist. While the notes to the programme say that there seems to be a unity to the Etudes, it does not seem always obvious, each variation posing different difficulties. Secondly, with its 45-minute span very similar to Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, they can really take a toll on the listener, more so for a "live" audience. I remember telling my fellow reviewer Isaak about this. However, after the performance, I was only too happy when Isaak pointed out that never a moment was there any lifelessness in Pizarro's playing.

Opting to play with score (I don't understand why more pianists don't do this - you have everything to gain and relatively little to lose), Pizarro produced a reading that was riveting, perceptive and persuasive. While there are so many adjectives that can be used to describe him, the ones that come to mind are"thought-provoking", "stimulating" and "inspired". His chords were always filled with heightened intensity and his arpeggio runs were superlative.

While it is often said that Schumann's markings were always altered by Clara Schumann, Pizarro's interpretation never bordered on anything extreme. He played in a comfortable manner which brought out the true Schumannian spirit. His pedalling was immaculate and legatissomos were so clear, notes never mushy. His expression was always distinct and repeats were always taken with a tinge of difference thus disallowing any sense of mediocrity to step in. Structural climaxes especially at the end of variations were always given dramatic weight and this infused a lot of emotion in his playing. The last variation, which rises to elemental fury, was taken with sheer enchantment.

I have often made personal predictions and after hearing this work in his hands I can only predict a brilliant career ahead of him. Pizarro seems to possess qualities made up of various schools of thought, possessing a phenomenal technique, an intelligent understanding of the work yet infusing it with passion and intuitive poetry. The classical piano world - Look out! We have a giant in our midst!

While personally I have never quite liked Ravel's piano music, I have to admit that Pizarro seemed to display an inspirational alliance for Ravel, displaying a keen sense of tonal beauty, and each valse (waltz) ideally flexible and texturally lucid.

The pianist Josef Hoffman - the dedicatee of Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto - once said this of Rachmaninov:

"[He] was made of steel and gold; steel in his arms, gold in his heart. I can never think of this majestic being without tears in my eyes, for I not only admired him as a supreme artist but I also loved him as a man."

This tends to give you immediate impressions of the music and Pizarro's rendition is in my personal view the best I have ever heard. I was only too happy to tell him that after the concert! Playing the original version of 1913 (there are two versions, the other is a revision of 1931), he launched into the opening with exemplary fashion, authority and panache. The words to describe this piece is basically one phrase: Pure Technique. Not only must there be abandon in one's playing, but every facet of a pianist is put to the test.

Pizarro comes out with full marks. In a piece with a thousand notes in a particular section, it is easy to get lost in mushiness. However Pizarro was always clear and agreeably resonant. His pedalling once again has to be highly commended; his sustained pedals and fading diminuendos and forceful intensity only served to bring out the music we have come to love from Rachmaninov. The crowd was deep in thought with the pianist and it was Pizarro who gave you that sense of premonition and expectation in his playing, his phrasing had a ghostly lingering quality which gave the right balance between austerity and emotional balance.

For the encores Pizarro gave us Schumann's Romance No.2, Isaac Albéniz's Iberia (Book 1) and an Etude by Moritz Moszkowski - each displaying once again every facet of his technique. I had asked him if he would record both the Rachmaninov Sonatas, and he said that he would in the not-too-distant future. He has just recorded for Collins Classics the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.3 which I have no doubt will be equally perceptive and persuasive.

Johann D'Souza just loses himself when he is in the company of people who love classical music - he wishes a society could be formed: The Classical Music Fanatics' Society - we already have members at the Inkpot!

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243: 8.7.98. cor.9.7.98 (thanks, Ellen) ©Johann D'Souza

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