|
Tuesday 10th November 1998 DBS Auditorium |
AYSEGÜL SARICA piano |
|
J.S.BACH Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Sonata in F minor, op.57 "Appassionata" Edvard GRIEG Four Lyric Pieces Claude DEBUSSY Images (Book I) Darmar Preludes Zoltan KODÁLY Marosszék Dances |
OVERALL NOISE RATING:
1 (A quiet and appreciative audience)
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.
Tickets for Inkpot classical music reviewers have been kindly sponsored by the Singapore Symphonia Company. This review first appeared in The Straits Times.
by CHIA Han-Leon
The original programme for this recital by Turkish pianist Aysegül Sarica featured three great fantasies - Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue, the Schubert "Wanderer" Fantasy and Schumann’s Fantasy in C.
This unconfirmed menu was eventually replaced by a selection of pieces by Beethoven, Grieg, Debussy, Darmar and Kodály, retaining only the Bach. But despite the new programme’s varied appearance, Sarica showed that she did not choose her programme without thought.
Beginning with the Bach, she demonstrated her fluid fingerwork, sparkling runs, un-aggressive sforzandi, and balanced dynamics. Though a little more flexibility might have been afforded, her cogent Bach line culminated in a clear fugue, where well-measured tempi were brisk enough to give momentum to her articulation, yet suitably relaxed to showcase Bach’s magnificent architecture.
Here, the elderly pianist's technique less secure. But slips and smudged chords aside, she made her individual point: that passion is a fantasy of feelings, alternately intimate and playful, as in the Andante, or a flowing torrent of argument as in the finale.
Fantasy – little lyrical moments where the mind wanders – was evident in Grieg’s Lyric Pieces. Sarica gave a tender but utterly focused account of the famous Arietta, then a measured dance of Butterflies. Her Melodie was deceptively cool and composed, but underlain with sadness, like dreamily watching endless falling snowflakes.
Dreamy too is a description often applied to Debussy. Here, the soloist continued her immersion into fantasy. In the Reflets dans l’eau ("Reflections on the water"), her scintillating play of water rippled with natural grace.
The performances of the Hommage á Rameau and Mouvement were marked by an unforced concentration, but also sounded detached. However, this uncontrived playing characterises her unwillingness to appear virtuosic, also noticeable in her renditions of the works of Kodály and contemporary Turkish composer Darmar.
Darmar's opening prelude was surprisingly lyrical, perhaps easily likened to Debussy. The second prelude was a piece of delirium, disturbingly beautiful in its wandering harmonies. Sarica was, without doubt and most naturally, in her element in these works by her Eastern European compatriots.
Kodály's Marosszék Dances again demonstrated the pianist’s taste for music that wavers between seriousness and playfulness, or gloomy solemnity and bright, glittering lyricism. This sharp contrast came across with remarkable harmony in her hands.
The apparent detachness of these swiftly changing moods is reflected in her preoccupation over "fantasy" – that it is the detached that are allowed to wander, and in wandering one derives the freedom to be truly lyrical.
On reflection, every piece she had chosen had a measure of these qualities.
In Beethoven’s "Appasionata Sonata", Sarica (right) emphasised a certain looseness, lacking solid thrust. Despite such an un-tempestuous reading, it might be called temperamental, rarely exploiting resting points but instead constantly shifting modes in a fantasising manner, drifting like mist from section to section. It was almost as if it had become Beethoven's "Wanderer Fantasy".
|
Click to Return to the Classical Index!...
or Visit the Inkvault archives! |
349: 19.11.98
 |
Explore the Flying Inkpot
| Concert Reviews |
Bit deadish:
| More Piano |
| International Piano Festival |