mrsday, October 14, 1993
THE INDIANAPOLIS NEWS
Pianist measures up to music
In the space of a little less than
an hour, Nicholas Roth displayed
a world of talent in his American
Pianists Association recital
Wednesday at
the legato re- CUQlAf
quired in mWWkJww
Schubert's TIME
percussive
power needed for Prokofiev's
Third Sonata.
Roth played the Impromptu in
the auditions last March when he
emerged as one of the association's 1993 Beethoven Fellows. As
I recall, he did it more effectively
then, or perhaps just a bit slower.
In any event, this time around the
accompanying broken chords
sounded a bit nervous, though he
still floated the seemingly endless
Schubert melody over it with a
lovely singing tone.
If Roth has the opportunity, he
might find and listen to the recording of the work made by the
late Dinu Lipati, one that, after
one hearing, has stuck in my
mind as the measure of all other
performances.
Though not overly familiar to
me, Schumann's Sonata in G minor proved a splendid test of
Roth's expressive and technical
range, a test he passed with all
flags flying. He had the spontaneity, not to mention the controlled
octave leaps, for the first movement, and the endurance for the
broken octaves in the finale.
But his success as a real musician was best measured by the
lyrical beauty of the Andantino.
He managed to separate and dif
ferentiate phrases and figurations
even in Schumann's typically
"hand-cuffed" passages, those in
which the hands nearly play on
top of each other.
And, talk about security and
assurance, it turned out he didn't
even have the music with him
when I asked if I might take a look
at it after the program.
He followed the Schumann with
four Chopin's mazurkas. While
his rhythmic verve kept the fact
that these were dances clearly before his appreciative listeners,
Roth invested the fourth of Opus
30 in C-sharp minor with an especially delicate melancholy that became even more wistful in the
fourth of Opus 17 in A minor.
Roth's bravura turned quite
daring, and appropriately so, in
the Prokofiev, possibly the composer's most famous piano sonata
after the Seventh in B-flat. The
one continuous movement is
marked, at the beginning, Allegro
Tempestoso, and certainly Roth's
motor-driven performance was
stormy and impetuous but never
out of control.
One moment in particular stood
out in a performance of fine moments and this was the way the
grotesque little scherzo section
suddenly emerged, with one held
note, from the thunder of the previous passage.
The young pianist will play a
longer recital, also free, Sunday at
2 p.m. in the Indianapolis Museum of Art's DeBoest Lecture Hall.
Included will be Ravel's Sona-
tine, a wonderful combination of
neo-classicir.m and impressionism; Schumann's challenging Hu-
moreske, Op. 20; the first four
Preludes of Rachmaninoff's Opus
23 set; and, from Liszt's "Years of
Pilgrimage," the "Dante" Sonata.
The association will present
1991 Fellow Timothy Bozarth
Nov. 3 at the Circle and Nov. 7 at
the museum.
The first program will consist of
"Hymne a l'amour" from William
Bolcom's Pulitzer Prize-winning
\
THE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
OF INDIANAPOLIS
[ Jackson Wiley, Music Director
PROGRAM
Symphonie fantastique Berlioz
Triumphal March from Aida Verdi
Two Verdi Arias:
"Ritorno vincitor" from Aida and
"Pace, pace, mio dio"
from La forza del destino
Song: "My Man's Gone Now"
from Porgy and Bess Gershwin
Angela Brown, soprano solo;st
OPENING CONCERT OF THE 1993-'94 SEASON
SUNDAY, OCT 17 at 3 P.M. Admission $4
«^ Caleb Mills Hall, 34th & Pennsylvania Streets /-/**
Qp^ Concert Sponsor P. E. McAllister J&~
O For Season Tickets Call 283-5242 O
Twelve New Etudes for Piano;
Chopin's Etude in C minor, Op.
25, No. 7, and Polonaise-Fantasie
in A-flat and Ravel's taxing "Ga-
spard de la Nuit."
Making up the second program
will be J.S. Bach's Partita in C
minor; Franck's Prelude, Chorale
and Fugue; "The Sunken Cathedral" and "Le Puerta del Vino"
from Debussy's first and second
book of Preludes, respectively, and
Prokofiev's Sixth Sonata.
Opener
The Philharmonic Orchestra of Indianapolis will open
its season Sunday at 3 p.m.
with a concert featuring Indianapolis soprano Angela
Brown. Jackson Wiley will
debut as the orchestra's
new music director in the
concert in the Caleb Mills
Auditorium, 3401 N. Meridian St.
Angela Brown
The Pipes, Drums & Dancers
ofthe 1st Battallion
ARGYLL & SUTHERLAND
HIGHLANDERS
With the Massed Bands of
THE QUEEN'S DIVISION
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INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL '93
Trie Worte of Customs & Tratfthm*
October 14,15,16 & 17
Indiana State Fairgrounds
(west pavilion - free parking & shuffle)
It's a Celebration of
Culture, Music, Food & Fun!
Enjoy mouth-watering Foods from around the
world, ethnic Crafts & Merchandise, Cultural
Displays, Continuous Entertainment,
a fun Kid's World, and an
International Demonstration Area.
World Class Entertainment
Don't miss the Philippine Dance Co. of NY
Festival Tickets
Adults $5.00, Children 6-12 yrs. $2.50
Kids 5 yrs. or under are FREE
Festival Hours
Thurs.-Sat.: 10 a.m.-lO p.m., Sunday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
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