a&e | CLASSICAL REVIEWS
Sensitivity and Verve Reviewed by Joseph Miller
R
DAVID BAZEMORE
Ray Chen, presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures. At the Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall, Wednesday, October 9.
ay Chen electrified Santa Barbara music lovers this week with a sparkling debut that bore witness to his internationally lauded skills and musicianship. In a smartly organized program weighted toward duets, the 24-year-old Taiwanese-Australian violinist, with the help of pianist Julio Elizalde, displayed sensitivity and verve with fresh perspectives on classical, baroque, and 20th-century works, capping the evening in a blaze of Spanish romance. Despite air travel delays that landed the duo on the tarmac less than two hours before the performance, winsome attitude and wit trumped ON THE BOW: Violinist Ray Chen, all. pictured leading a master class, The evening began with the performed Wednesday evening at cheery dialogues of Wolfgang the Music Academy. Amadeus Mozart’s Sonata in A Major, K. . The Variations of the second movement included a solo piano passage that gave Elizalde, a Music Academy of the West alum, a sustained spotlight. But all of this was only warm-up for the substantial collaboration of the night, Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Sonata No. in D Major, a work originally composed for flute, but successful only after adaptation for violin. So irresistible was the ignition of the Presto movement that spontaneous applause broke out mid-piece. After intermission, Chen returned to the stage alone to give a brave rendition of J.S. Bach’s third Partita for unaccompanied violin. No metronomic tether here — the violinist shaped the contours, paused at the peaks, and gave us every reason to believe we were not hearing a 1720 étude, but 2013 rapture. The program ended with the crowd-pleasing pyrotechnics of Spanish dances by Pablo de Sarasate, replete with glissandos, flash-fast ornamental runs, and a throaty dark tone to make Iberians blush.
Simply The Best
Burning Vitality Reviewed by Joseph Miller
S
ome artists are not bound by the formalism of their tradition and seem to possess the burning vitality itself. Appropriately, Beijing-born Yuja Wang posted words of Mahler last year to her Twitter account, “Tradition is tending the flame; it’s not worshiping the ashes.” The fashion-savvy pianist, in signature heels and incendiary red mini dress, demonstrated Monday night that focus is greater than flash by punching out a demanding program of intellectual and imaginative substance that included Prokofiev, Chopin, and Stravinsky. In short, Wang seems to have it all — the beauty, depth, and sinew to go anywhere she wants. And going she is. The 26-year-old is signed to the primo classical label Deutsche Grammophon and collaborates internationally with the finest conductors and orchestras. But it is in solo recital, where the artist is responsible for conjuring her own world, that the real depth and development of Wang’s gifts are measured. Wang’s technique and speed are wonders to behold, but her conversance with texture, color, and mood are the purer pleasure of her artistry. Simple lyrical themes in Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. in B minor seemed to float independently of the complex ornaments that crowded about. Wang spreads and simultaneously maintains distinct textures, as with the spacious chorale in Chopin’s Nocturne No. in C minor that is intruded upon by an interjecting voice, and through Wang’s hands seemed to animate an independent personality. In Stravinsky’s Three Movements from Petrushka, Wang bounded the faultline time signatures and feverish patterns. But the pianist was also not afraid to swing, dashing off Kapustin’s Variations for Piano, Op. and an encore of “Tea for Two,” which, if not exactly improvised, nevertheless smoldered with the spirit of the moment.
of Santa Barbara Santa Barbara Bridal Show and Wedding Fair
Sunday, October 27 u 11am - 3pm Santa Barbara Rockwood Women’s Club 670 Mission Canyon Road, Santa Barbara • Free Valet Parking
Featuring Santa Barbara’s Top Wedding Professionals
Admission Fee $7 in advance at www.simplythebestofsb.com Presented by Bonnie Hope of Contact at 805-965-8249
Photo credit: Baron Spafford
Yuja Wang, presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures. At Campbell Hall, Monday, October 14.
Event Sponsors:
october 17, 2013
THE INDEPENDENt
123