Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) Presents Anniversaries in Review
Warren Lee, piano
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
April 2, 2018
In this centennial year marking the birth of composer, conductor, and pianist Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), the world is hearing a great deal of his music. The Leonard Bernstein website, www.leonardbernstein.com, features a calendar of worldwide 2018 performances including, for example, a deluge of selections and renditions of West Side Story, Candide, some high-profile performances of this reviewer’s favorite, the Chichester Psalms, and of course some of the Symphony No. 2: Age of Anxiety (including next week, April 11, the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Jean-Yves Thibaudet at Carnegie Hall); by comparison, performances of Bernstein’s piano solo collections entitled Anniversaries are included in a relative handful of events.
Enter pianist Warren Lee. In his recent Weill Recital Hall program, Mr. Lee played eight selections from Bernstein’s four sets of Anniversaries and even entitled his concert Anniversaries, despite also including George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, and Liszt’s Sonata in B minor (which I believe are not celebrating any particular anniversaries). Liszt’s Sonata in B minor is not often regarded as an add-on – nor for that matter the Gershwin – but the focus was clearly meant to be Bernstein here. Mr. Lee gave his audience a memorable gift of insight into Bernstein’s world, and to round it out with standard repertoire was very much in keeping with Bernstein’s own sense of balance and popular appeal.
For those not familiar with the Anniversaries (totaling 29 miniatures in four sets, but pared down for this concert), each piece is written in tribute to a particular person in Bernstein’s life, in some cases extremely well known, such as Aaron Copland or Stephen Sondheim, but in other cases less so, such as Helen Coates, Bernstein’s piano teacher and later friend and secretary. As expressive character pieces, they are not unlike Virgil Thomson’s Portraits, which presume on the part of the listener some specific (sometimes arcane) knowledge in order to reach full understanding. They therefore pose a potential problem in programming. Even many pianists are not familiar with names such as Helen Coates or Felicia Montealegre (Bernstein’s wife), so to get an audience to pay attention to works bearing those names requires an especially communicative approach. Again, enter Warren Lee.
What was so ingenious about Mr. Lee’s presentation was the alternation of his own carefully selected readings from Bernstein’s letters with his own compelling interpretations of the music. One was drawn into the relationships that inspired the different vignettes, and the music became a tonal autobiography of the composer and his colleagues and loved ones.
Bernstein, in love with humanity in a Whitmanesque way, was insatiable socially as much as musically (by his own description), and so it is fitting that some of his work is, in a sense, “about people” in his circle. In any case, one came away from this concert with a deepened awareness of Bernstein’s own feelings through his words and music. Mr. Lee’s readings and interpretations presented it all in a seamless and accessible way. No heads were in laps glued to program notes, thanks to the spoken introductions – an important consideration, as a single paragraph would take longer to read than some of the miniatures!
The excellent conception was matched by excellent pianism. In the first selection, For Felicia Montealegre Mr. Lee’s gentle and stunningly voiced phrases resembled speech patterns in their sensitive inflection. One almost felt privy to a conversation between Leonard Bernstein and his wife. The next piece, For Johnny Mehegan, inspired by the American jazz musician, brought to life an acerbic, mockingly humorous character, colorfully conveyed by Mr. Lee.
For David Diamond evokes the melancholy and intense volatility that afflicted Bernstein’s fellow composer – and subsequently their friendship – but one still needed Mr. Lee to bring it all to the listener, which he did masterfully. For Helen Coates was appropriately energetic for a woman who was a life force in many ways for Bernstein, conveying the lifelong importance to him of teaching and learning. It was played brilliantly.
For Aaron Copland, as one might expect, had a certain flavor of the composition of Copland himself, with spare, semplice textures that spoke of the vulnerability of art in a world of increasing war (as a prefatory letter illustrated as well). This piece was followed by For Sergei Koussevitzky which had heightened dissonance and a still more ponderous quality.
The variety of these pieces says so much about Bernstein’s own sensitivity and vulnerability. Despite this composer’s larger-than-life personality, each piece represented not so much Bernstein’s own ego but more intensely the impact of others on his life and work. For Stephen Sondheim was dreamy and atmospheric, as one might expect, and one heard the closeness of the two who worked together on West Side Story.
Nothing quite touched the emotional power of the final selection, In Memoriam: Helen Coates. Mr. Lee brought out its profound sadness and, with sensitive pedaling created the otherworldly music of heartbreak. It closed a musical grouping that cast Bernstein as having an even more fragile human quality as man and musician than one normally has seen. Mr. Lee proved himself to be a truly insightful and sympathetic interpreter.
George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue for solo piano closed the first half with the racy, sassy spirit one has come to expect from this piece. Note-wise it was nearly perfect. Some sections seemed a bit straitlaced, but one could argue that at least one such performance is needed for every fifteen that are overblown and hammy. It was in a way refreshing, though I did crave a more ramped up bass in the left-hand octaves towards the end. Perhaps there was a concern about outweighing the rather glassy octaves of the treble, but sometimes one has to just go for broke with the spirit of the thing. Incidentally, though the program notes mention some comments Bernstein made about the loosely strung structure of the Gershwin, no mention was made that Bernstein played this piece often – perhaps that detail was considered self-explanatory.
As for Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B minor, it was a fine and virtuosic close, if a bit understated for this reviewer. Some parts sounded metric to the point of seeming almost perfunctory rather than gestural. On the other hand, the tautness of such passages did set in relief the elasticity of the beautiful dreamier sections, so all in all it worked. One had the occasional quibble with what seemed at some points like slight over-pedaling, and for a brief moment towards the end things did go a bit astray, but all recovered quite well.
An enthusiastic ovation merited several curtain calls and an encore of more Bernstein, For Felicia On Our 28th Birthday (& her 52nd). Mr. Lee capped the evening off reading words from Ronald Reagan in praise of Leonard Bernstein – a final tribute to close what was an enlightening and memorable evening. Bravo!
