KUSCHNEROVA UNMASKS THE ELEGANCE OF SCHUMANN'S PIANO MUSIC

Lorenz guest lets the composer, piano do the talking.

The music of Robert Schumann can sound in turn pleasant, hypnotic, energetic, raw. It can also sound as if it lacks rhythmic or formal imagination, yet anyone who has seen a score of this composer knows the sometimes subtle and other times breathtaking ingenuity this composer committed to paper.

Elena Kuschnerova presented a nearly all-Schumann program Sunday in the Concert Hall at California State University, Fresno. She opened the Philip Lorenz Memorial Keyboard Concerts 2010-11 season with a masterful display of skill with this composer. The only work on the program not by Schumann was a short work by Russian composer Alexander Lokshin from 1982 and dedicated to Kuschnerova.

Kuschnerova began with the subtle in three selections from the Fantasy Pieces Op. 12: Des Abends, In der Nacht, and Traumeswirren. In Des Abends, or “the evening,” a simple melody soars over a not-so-simple harmony. What you hear sounds like a rhythmically even melody alternating with light intervals that form the harmony. However, what you see on the page is triplets, or beats divided by three. This is Schumann being clever or insolent, and the effect mesmerizes the listener.

Kuschnerova created a distinctive relationship between the melody and harmony, each supporting and interacting with the other, mostly for euphony, sometimes with dissonance. This, blended with an honest pushing and pulling of the tempo created an atmosphere that drew the listener away from the tangible surroundings and into a musical frame of mind. Her mastery of the tricky rhythmic elements seemed to free her to feel the melody and express it as though she were singing the simplest of songs.

In der Nacht, while still very subtle rhythmically with a shimmering and treacherous background, provided a platform for Kuschnerova to expand on the foreground/background tension from the first selection. She made no attempt to rationalize or hide the dissonance lurking beneath the surface. Instead, she played as written and let the Schumann chromaticism work its spell. Again, Kuschnerova played very tricky music with apparent ease.

Her demeanor is very quiet. She makes no show of sweeping into the room or flouncing to the piano. Instead, she glides in, sits without a fuss, and lets the piano do the talking for her. As her fingers spun intricate webs of texture and melody, she remained calm, very much at peace with the instrument.

Her second work on the program, Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13, left subtlety behind. Note that while Op. 13 follows Op. 12 numerically, this work was probably composed three years earlier than the Fantasy Pieces. Where Schumann placed a great deal of technical detail in the background of Op. 12, here he went for the larger gestures, and his backgrounds are much more obvious and at times clunky.

Again showing a commitment to the score, Kuschnerova allowed the repeating chords to pound away under the themes. Her musical vision and skill showed in her handling of the rhythm. In this work, there are a lot of very snappy rhythms, and Kuschnerova seemed to take great joy in snapping off the short note of each dotted rhythm. The effect of this treatment of the rhythm made all the difference between a very average performance and an exciting and stimulating one. The audience loved her work here.

She followed this with five variations on the theme published posthumously. These delightful variations seemed to belong to the composer of Op. 12 more than to the composer of Op. 13. Here was a return of the subtlety, the lightness of touch, the clarity of idea, and the elegance of lyrical pianism.

Prelude and Theme with Variations by Alexander Lokshin followed the intermission, and it seemed that it was possible Kuschnerova’s thought concerning the program was to overload the ear with the romanticism of Schumann to make room for the dissonance of a newer composition. Not all fans of classical music find new music appealing at first blush.

The seven minutes of Lokshin’s work were very stimulating to the mind, if not the ear. One listens to a new work with several questions in mind to assist in placing, understanding, enjoying, and criticizing the music. Is there a narrative thread? Does the harmonic language fit into any existing mold? Is the form predictable? And does the music invite the listener into the sound world and then deliver something enjoyable, whether a rhythmic motif, a great melody, or a moving fluctuation of tension and release?

With the Lokshin, the music came off as novel, and there were some brilliant pianistic moments. As a whole, it takes several listenings to grasp the overall shape. You can listen to it again here.

Kuschnerova presented the work without apology and demonstrated that she is as comfortable with a challenging harmonic language as she is with Schumann. She did not overwhelm the audience with a virtuosic display, but she let the music live and breathe as written, and infused it with her own understated energy.

Finally, Kuschnerova returned to Schumann and played Carnaval, Op. 9, a very popular work with Lorenz guests. Kuschnerova’s presentation never lagged, and she managed to keep the interest the whole time, a challenge not every pianist manages to meet.