Above: pianist Nathan Lee, photo by Chris Lee
~ Author: Oberon
Wednesday February 19th 2020 matinee - Young Concert Artists continued their popular series of noontime concerts at The Morgan Library today as pianist Nathan Lee played works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Chris Rogerson, and Robert Schumann in succession with nary a break in between.
The youthful pianist, clad all in black with subtly bejeweled shoes, opened his program with Beethoven's Sonata No. 27 in E-minor, Op. 90 - a lovely gift to us for the composer's 250th birthday celebration. Unlike most traditional sonatas, this one has only two movements; the composer's tempo markings are in German rather than the usual Italian.
The opening phrases are alternately robust and subtle, and as the music develops there is a continual shift between thoughtful and intense passages. Mr. Lee's playing of swift downward scales was exhilarating, and he moved effortlessly from drama to delicacy as the piece evolved. The second movement offers a sweet flow of melody with contrasting moments of animation. Mr. Lee is as engaging to watch as to hear, his facial expressions reflecting the moods of the music, his eyes often closed.
The music of Chris Rogerson, who was Young Concert Artists' composer-in-residence from 2010-2012, made a very positive impression on me when I first encountered his String Quartet #1 performed by the Omer Quartet at a YCA concert at Merkin Hall in December of 2018. Ever on the lookout for music that might capture the imagination of one of my choreographer/friends, I sent this quartet on to Claudia Schreier. Long story short: Ms. Schreier is choreographing a ballet to Mr. Rogerson's String Quartet #1 for Chamber Dance Project in Washington DC, which will premiere in June 2020.
This afternoon, Mr. Lee played Chris Rogerson's 'Til it was dark; the work was Mr. Rogerson's first YCA Commission in 2010. The composer's program notes reveal the nostalgic background for 'Til it was dark, and made me think of my own boyhood in the little town when we'd play tag and hide-and-seek outdoors as the sun set slowly on summer evenings.
The work's first movement, Break, seems to speak of the noisy euphoria we felt as kids when school let out. Mr. Lee was called on to bang emphatically on the keyboard or to reel off swirling festoons of notes. As the music turns dreamy, then mysterious, and finally pensive, Mr. Lee caught all these moods thru his canny use of piano/pianissimo gradations. Later, when virtuosity is called for, the pianist delivers in spades.
"Three more minutes!" was the warning call of Chris's dad that it was almost time to come indoors. The music seems to depict the frantic desire to get as much fun out of the dwindling daylight as one could. By turns sprightly and loudly animated, things eventually calm before a final propulsive rush to a witty end.
Important Things takes on a more serious tone; Mr. Lee's playing becomes thoughtful, almost tender. In his program note, Mr. Rogerson writes of those "...quieter moments with friends, when you wanted to say something that was on your mind...but of course, you never did." By turns expansive, wistful, and passionate, the music finally alternates short dreamy phrases with harsher ones. Dreaminess prevails, and quietude settles over us. In this very personal (yet also universal) reflection - which put me in mind of Samuel Barber's evocative Knoxville: Summer of 1915 - Mr. Rogerson could not have asked for a finer interpretation that Mr. Lee's.
The young pianist then immediately commenced on Robert Schumann's Carnaval for piano, Op. 9, written in 1834-1835. In these twenty-one miniatures, Schumann depicted himself (with Florestan and Eusebius representing his split personalty), his beloved Clara (Chiarina), his friends, and also characters from the commedia dell'arte. In 1915, Michel Fokine choreographed the music for his ballet of the same title, created for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Amazingly, I'd never heard the entire Schumann score until today.
Above: the legendary ballerina Tamara Karsavina as Columbine in Fokine's ballet Carnaval
Nathan Lee took us on a delightful journey with his brilliant playing, and thru his coloristic gifts introduced us to - among others - the lively Pierrot, the smug wit of Harlekin, the scampering Coquette, and the youthful gaiety of Chiarina. From the grand introduction, the music's rhythmic subtleties and irresistible waltzes drew us onward thru this 30-minute panorama wherein the essential element - charm - was in abundance in Mr. Lee's playing.
The pianist returned for an encore: the Sarabande from Bach's 4th Partita, subtly played.
~ Oberon