Wunderkind pianist, Tao, wows Portland

Although he’s too young to get a driver’s permit, Conrad Tao has a command of the piano that is way beyond his years. The 14-year-old prodigy came to Newmark Theatre at the last minute in place of Polina Leschenko, who had to cancel her Portland Piano International recital appearance because of a serious knee injury. Looking relaxed and remarkably calm, Tao delivered a thrilling concert on Sunday afternoon in a program of music by Beethoven, Corigliano, Rachmaninoff, and Chopin, plus one of his own compositions.

Of course, many of us in the audience expected an unusually high level of technical expertise from Tao, but he made a fantastic artistic impression as well. Starting his concert with Beethoven’s Sonata No. 23 (“Appassionata”), Tao quickly delved into the music and found a deeper level, taking us on a journey through the emotional turmoil of this much beloved piece. The impetuous moments were terrific as were the quiet passages. Tao never overstated his playing, yet kept the audience fully engaged. Spontaneous applause erupted after the first movement, and several hearty rounds of appreciation broke out at the end of the piece.

On the heels of Beethoven, the next number was Tao’s own piece called “Fantasy-Sonata,” which he completed last year and premiered in Mexico City and at the Verbier Festival during the summer. The “Fantasy-Sonata” is a very sophisticated piece in four movements that teased our ears with a constant blend of harmony and dissonance, tempo and rhythmic changes, big, thumping sounds that almost slap us and gentle, small ones that flicker briefly. The moods were at times playful, then determined, then angry, and later sarcastic before ending with a feeling of triumph. I enjoyed the piece and would like to hear it again someday.

The second half of the concert began with Corigiliano’s “Etude Fantasy,” which Tao played with panache. This set of five etudes had lots of high points, but I liked the first etude, written for left-hand solely, most of all, because it created a satisfactory atmosphere of languor and mystery. Each etude developed its own character and enveloped the audience with all sorts of intriguing combinations of sounds.

Next on the program came two movements (No 1 and No. 4) from Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Six Moments Musicaux.” I enjoyed the large emotional range and the many colors of the first Moment, and Tao played both pieces as if he had grown up with them. I would have enjoyed the second piece, but a very loud hearing-aid from someone in the audience interfered.

The program ended with Chopin’s “Andante spianato et Grand polonaise,” which Tao performed brilliantly, finding all sorts of nuances, and making the music sing. The audience responded immediately with a standing ovation, and Tao performed an encore, Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 11,” which was very fast and devilishly tricky.

I heard a big buzz in the lobby after the concert about Tao’s sensational performance, and he seems to have a terrific future ahead of him. Of course, with prodigies like this, who knows what will happen. PPI’s artistic director, Harold Gray, told me that he had tried for the past two years to schedule Tao for a recital, and this time, because of the cancellation, everything worked. I hope that Tao will be able to return in the future. He is definitely someone to watch.

Montero takes requests and improvises with élan

Gabriela Montero has a new twist to the piano recital format. The Venezuelan-born virtuoso loves to take requests from the audience and then improves a piece based on the suggestion. So, Montero bantered with listeners and responded at the keyboard in her own unique way at the Newmark Theatre on Sunday afternoon in Portland as the second artist to appear this season in the series sponsored by Portland Piano International.

More akin to performing in a salon rather than a hushed recital hall, this all-improv concert (recital isn’t the right word) started with Montero, microphone in hand, explaining why he enjoys improvisation. She told us how she regularly performs 50 to 60 concerts a year (mostly in Europe) and that, while gratifying, the constant grind leaves her feeling a little like a well-trained monkey. At an extremely young age, she liked to improvise on the piano and found that improvisation is still a terrific way for her to find more meaning in music and achieve intimacy with the audience.

In order to prepare us for how her improvisations work, Montero read a poem by Pablo Neruda entitled “I like for you to be still,” and then turned to the keyboard and played a very pretty and lyrical piece that she made up on the spot.

Following a polite round of applause, Montero turned to her listeners and asked some one or more of us to sing a fairly well known tune, and she would then improvise. Someone declaimed “The Promenade theme from Pictures at an Exhibition.” Another person sang the phrase, which Montero repeated on the Steinway. After she composed herself for a moment, she started playing a delightful Haydnesque minuet. That put a smile on most people’s lips, and they responded to the piece with enthusiasm.

Next, someone demanded Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” and the tune emerged from the audience. After trying it out in several keys, Montero became quiet and then gave us a flowery Liszt-like fantasy. Somewhere along the way she changed everything to a Latin-salsa or tango – which was very playful and also earned a boisterous appreciation.

Montero then took a “Happy Birthday” suggestion and put a bouncy honky-tonk ragtime spin on it. Afterwards came the Shaker hymn tune, “Simple Gifts,” which was unfamiliar to her. Yet again, after trying it out in several keys and tempos, Montero took a brief moment of reflection and dived into a improvisation that began simply and gradually become more complex. I thought that I head a little bit of Mussorgsky-ness in it and a lot of charm.

For the next-to-the-last number, audience members abandoned singing anything at all and shouted out everything from “Greensleaves” to “God Bless America.” A loud voice rang out with “La Cocoracha,” Montero didn’t have to wait for anyone to sing a note. She gave us lively rendition of that Latin-American tune. She then ended the concert by reading Jorge Luis Borges’ “Instant,” a poem about living one’s life differently, and playing a final, heartfelt improvisation.

Montero’s performance was more in the line of what Mozart or Beethoven or Liszt could do. They could improvise at the drop of a tune in a bucket and that was not big deal to them. It’s unfortunate that so much of music-making in the classical world has lost this talent. Of course, organists, especially in Europe have kept the tradition of improvisation at the forefront of their artistry. It’s great to experience a pianist of Montero’s caliber reinvigorate improvisation. I have heard Robert Levin and Jeffrey Kahane improvise in concert. That kind of playing can do a world of good – especially in connecting with younger audiences. I hope that Montero can return to Portland some day soon to provide another round of impulsive music.

Talking with pianist Simone Dinnerstein

Simone Dinnerstein, a featured artist at Portland Piano International’s Summer Festival, has taken a most unusual route to become one of the hottest pianists on the planet. Just three years ago at the age of 33, Dinnerstein raised enough money to record Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” and produce a recital debut at Carnegie Hall. The resulting acclaim from the New York Times and other publications catapulted Dinnerstein into the limelight, landing her an agent and major contracts for concerts around the world.

I recently talked with Dinnerstein over the phone about her career.


It is just astounding that you to have a terrific artistic career without having won a piano competition.

Dinnerstein: I’m not the type of musician who excels in a competition setting. For a time, I thought that this would prevent me from having a career. Growing up as a pianist, I thought of winning competitions and following the regular kind of magic that happens.

Did you have a plan for all of this to happen?

Dinnerstein: Looking back on it, it looks as if I had a plan, but I didn’t. I was playing concerts a lot, and most of them were in small venues. Then I started to think that my career would continue in this sort of way, and that sort of thinking actually helped me to mature as an artist. Then I was accepted to an organization called Astral Artistic Services, which is based in Philadelphia. They help artists who are in transition between being students and having full professional careers. They wanted to present me in a big debut recital in Philadelphia. Then I found that I was pregnant. It was great but unexpected.

So, for the recital, I wanted to learn a piece of music that would be meaningful to me during my pregnancy. So I decided on the “Goldberg Variations.” After my son was born and after my recital in Philadelphia, I began to play a lot in alternative types of venues. Then I decided that I’d like to record the “Goldberg Variantions.” I raised the money for the recording from a few friends who had been supportive over the years. They all pitched in, and I made the CD, which I then sent to a few different people to get their feedback. Everyone was excited about it. Then we thought that it would be best if I played a recital of this music at Carnegie Hall. I had another sponsor who paid for the recital, and got signed by Columbia Artists Management, then a year later Telarc decided that they wanted to release the Goldberg CD, which I had originally recorded in 2005.

There are so many pianists out there. It is really hard to make a difference. But your playing has been lauded as something unique.

Dinnerstein: I think that I’m becoming more mature in my playing and try not to think of other people expectations of how something should be played. I just think about the music itself and what it means to me. Whenever I listen to other musicians who I admire, I find that they have a personal response to the music, and they have internalized the music – not necessarily following a certain tradition, but finding the way the music works for them. When I made that recording, that’s what I had in mind – how the music sounded to me.

The Telarc recording of your recital in Berlin last year will be released to the public on August 26th. How do you go about determining where or when a recording should be done?

Dinnerstein: I was scheduled to play a recital at the Berlin Philharmonie, and that’s considered one of the great concert halls of Europe. I had never played there before, but I knew that it’s an amazing acoustical space. With Berlin’s history and all, I thought that it would be a great place for a recording, especially with the fact that I was playing a program of German and American music. Telarc decided that it would be a great idea to record that recital. So the CD is of that recital in Berlin.

In that recording, you play Philip Lasser’s 12 Variations on a Chorale by J. S. Bach “Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott” (“Take from us, Lord, Thou faithful God”).

Dinnerstein: Yes, Philip’s piece is very beautiful and very deep. He has taken one of Bach’s very dark chorales. Phillip has a unique voice. You can hear strains of French impressionism in this piece. You also hear wide-open American harmonies and a little bit a jazz as well.

How did you discover Philip Lasser’s music?

Dinnerstein: I discovered him when I played a cello sonata that he wrote for my friend Zuill Bailey. We played it together, and then I met Phillip Lasser, and Phillip said that he had written these twelve variations and he gave the score and I looked at it and could tell right away that they were right up my alley. I loved them and could hear them in my head – how I would want to play them. So I started performing them about a year ago and thought that they would be perfect my recital. It’s great to have some new music in your repertoire.

Philip’s music is pretty tonal; so a lot of people can relate to it well. I just premiered set of variations that he wrote for me and a violinist. People were really involved in the music. Some contemporary music has a lack of beauty, but Philip’s is wonderful.

In your upcoming concert at the Portland Piano International Summer Festival, you will be playing some music by Aaron Copland and Anton Webern.

Dinnerstein: Yes, I’m starting the concert with an early work of Copland, his “Piano Variations,” which is from his atonal period. That piece will sound different to some people who are not familiar with this period of his music. Some of it is very jazzy and foreshadows some of the popular music that he wrote later on.

After that I play the Webern “Variations,” a short, incredibly beautiful piece. Even though it’s a 12-tone piece, it’s very romantic and it almost comes out of Brahms.

Then I’ll play Bach’s French Suite No. 5, which will be followed by the Lasser Variations, and then the Beethoven Sonata No 32, Opus 111. All in all, this is the same program that I played in Berlin, but I couldn’t fit all of the pieces on one CD, so I had to leave out the Copland and Webern. The Beethoven has a lot of dissonances in it and is very contemporary sounding. Starting with the Copland and ending with the Beethoven works very well.

How do you fit being a touring artist and a mom at the same time?

Dinnerstein: It’s very challenging, but many women in other careers have similar challenges. If I were a lawyer it could be even more challenging, every day I would be gone for most of the day. In my career, I do travel, and I might be away from home for half of the month, but then when I’m home, I’m home all the time. It’s really nice that my husband, Jeremy, and son, Adrian (who is six years old) can travel with me sometimes. My husband is a teacher at my son’s school, so they are on the same schedule. They aren’t going on this trip because I’m playing at too many places. This past mid-winter break, they came with me when I toured with the Dresden Philharmonic in Florida and Puerto Rico. That was wonderful.

When I’m at home, I practice during the day while my son is at school, then I practice again when he is asleep at night – usually from 8 to 10 in the evening. But I also volunteer at his classroom. So, I’m busy. There’s not a lot of down time. I get to rest on the airplane.

After you finish your West-coast tour, what else do you have coming up?

Dinnerstein: Later in the summer, I’m playing at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. Then I’ll be in Germany at the Stuttgart Bach Festival, and then at Bremen Festival to play with Kristjan Järvi’s Absolut Ensemble. We are doing this thing called Bach Re-invention, which is a newly written concerto that takes Bach through several different kinds of genres. There’s a dj who is part of the orchestra, then we do a tango, then some Arabic-influenced music, but it’s all based on Bach’s inventions. I’ve never done anything like this before, and it involves improvisation, which is very new for me.

After that I’ll do my third Telarc recording. It’ll be Mozart’s Piano Concertos 21 and 23 with a fantastic new orchestra called The Knights. It’s a New York-based orchestra, and we’ll do the recording without a conductor. They are a very young and vibrant ensemble, and I’m very excited about the project. I want the concertos to sound like chamber music. One of the things about this orchestra is that they are incredibly good at listening to each other. I saw them do Beethoven’s “Pastoral Symphony” and they all knew what the other orchestra members were playing, because they were looking at each other.

I’m playing some nice recitals. I’ve got one at the Kennedy Center, another at Wigmore Hall in London, and playing at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. I’m learning Chopin’s first piano concerto for a concert with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony and Beethoven’s second with the New Jersey Symphony.

Wow, you are busy! Thanks for giving us your time!

Dinnerstein: You are most welcome. See you in Portland.

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Simone Dinnerstein plays at the Portland Piano International Summer Festival on Saturday, July 19th at 7:30 pm at the World Forestry Center. Dinnerstein will also give a masterclass on July 20th at 2 pm.

For more information, see Portland Piano International or call 503-228-1388 for tickets.

Jackie Parker’s one-person rendition of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” rocks the Kasbah

Jon Kimura Parker showcased a wide-ranging program, delivering a taste of the East with Alexina Louie’s “Scenes from a Jade Terrace” and a sampling of the West with Robert Schumann’s “Carnaval.” But it was Parker’s own arrangement of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” that created a wow factor on Sunday afternoon at the Newmark Theatre as part of Portland Piano International’s recital series. Parker’s intense and intelligent playing and all-around virtuoso technique re-created the entire atmosphere of Stravinsky’s hymn to pagan times.

I heard Parker play this piece a few years ago at the World Forestry Center and what struck me was its forcefulness. This time I was more impressed with how Parker always brought out the leading theme of each movement and how clearly I could hear all of the sound in the Newmark. After ending the first part like a possessed madman, Parker created an atmosphere of mystery at the beginning of the second part and gradually increased the tension, keeping a firm hand on the throttle. The jagged, jarring, and at times brutal rhythmic drive became almost hypnotic. Parker at times rocked back and forth and so did his assisting page turner.

Wild applause erupted at the end of the piece, although I got the feeling that part of the audience just doesn’t like Stravinsky’s music not matter how brilliantly it is played. They may have been confused by Alexina Louie’s “Scenes from a Jade Terrace,” which Parker commissioned in 1987 when he was 28 years old. This piece contains some intriguing tone clusters, especially a blur of notes in the bass that create a hollow, ghostly sound. Parker also quickly reached into the piano to strum the strings, which added an atmosphere of awe to the “Warrior” and “Memories in an Ancient Garden” movements.

Parker superbly played Schumann’s “Carnaval,” creating a separate mood for each scene. Whether noble, silly, wild, or serene, Parker conveyed it all marvelously.

I was unable to stay for the encore, which I found from Harold Gray’s blog was Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Prelud in G Major, Op. 32, No. 5.