RECITAL REVIEW
rwnorest opens ^h*
with an exploration
\of transcriptions
IPianoFest opening recital
I 1 1 1 Pianist: James Giles.
1^ ^ ^ When: Wednesday
Inoon.
Iwhere: Circle Theatre Wood Room.
Istar ratings: 4 excellent, 3 good, 2 fair, 1 poor.
By Jay Harvey
STAR STAFF WRITER
In music, when a composer
pours old wine into new bottles, he sometimes creates an
I alchemy that results in a mysteri-
I ous third thing.
Such transformations are what
I James Giles, 1995 Fellow of the
I American Pianists Association,
I explored Wednesday in the first
j 1995-96 PianoFest recital.
I In the Wood Room
Proudly titled The Art of the
I Virtuoso Transcription, Giles' pro-
I gram displayed what a quirky item
I a transcription can be — especial-
I ly when more than a literal tran-
| scription is at work.
About 70 people in the Circle
I theatre's Wood Room heard the
[slim North Carolinian open with
] the sole example of the latter —
I the young Leonard Bernstein's
I solo piano version of Aaron Cop-
1 land's cheeky romp for orchestra,
\El Salon Mexico.
There's as much youthful Bern-
I stein as mature Copland in this
I piece, as Giles played it. The per-
I cussive nature of the piano throws
■the raucous episodes into high re-
llief, and Giles marshaled impres-
Isive outbursts for these vigorously
I accented passages. The pianist
■also handled well the meandering
■tunes that add charm to the most-
lly boisterous musical postcard
1 from Mexico.
| Top of the Liszt
If the program never got into
I anything substantial, even in
I pieces where composers gave free
I rein to their imaginations, it came
I closest with Franz Liszt's Reminis-
I cences of Norma.
An involving transformation of
I several themes from Bellini's trag-
I ic opera, the knuckle-busting fan-
I tasy offers the satisfactions of a
I well-integrated one-movement so-
| nata.
On his charming recording of
I this work, the veteran Texas pia-
American Pianists Association
INVENTIVE: James Giles'
performance Wednesday
kicked off PianoFest.
nist Ivan Davis writes in program
notes that a note-perfect performance of it is probably impossible.
Giles' version Wednesday had
its share of finger faults, but was
generally well under control. The
pianist put lots of buoyancy into
Bellini's long-breathed tunes, even
when the surrounding figuration
was at its thickest.
His octave technique was formidable, and his articulation of the
trills and tremolos that are so
much a part of Liszt's language
was crystalline.
Going a bit Wild
Otherwise, there were such delights as Earl Wild's spry but over-
decorated "etudes" on three
Gershwin songs — Embraceable
You, Fascinatin' Rhythm and J Got
Rhythm — and Percy Grainger's
fetching version of the English
folk tune Shepherd's Hey paired
with a more fanciful "free ramble"
on Bach's Sheep May Safely
Graze.
With an eccentric's sure instinct for effective marketing,
Grainger alliteratively called the
latter piece Blithe Bells.
It treats Bach's theme to some
haunting, tinkly echoes in different registers and sometimes mists
it over with odd chords. Someday
it will surely be used in a TV
rnmmercial.
