Aglaia Koras, Pianist in Review
Aglaia Koras, Pianist in Review Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall; New York, NY May 9, 2011
Aglia Koras
Aglaia Koras devotes much of her performing to the music of Frederic Chopin, and on May 9th, she continued her passion for his music with some Nocturnes, Mazurkas and Etudes, among others. This concert, performed for a packed audience, was presented by MidAmerica Productions. Koras played with elegance–particularly in slower, more serene works, and she performed impressively from memory.
The C-sharp minor Nocturne, Op. Posth., which opened the program, was played exquisitely and poetically. The same could be said of the A minor Mazurka, Op. 67, No. 4 that followed. There was lovely shading and phrasing in both the Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op. 60 and in the Nocturne in D-flat major, Op. 27, No. 2.
In the Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor, Op. 66, Koras could have played more clearly in faster passages, but her devoted, stormy playing was captivating indeed.
In the Polonaise in A-flat Major, Op. 53 (“Heroic”), agitated passages were slightly rushed,
and phrases were sometimes muddied due to over-pedaling. Nonetheless, her audience was very enthusiastic–and so was I, as her eloquence comes across as very heartfelt indeed. A special Kudos to Koras for her insightful programming as well; the “Harp” Etude in A-flat, Op. 25, No. 1 and the “Cello” Etude in C-sharp minor, Op. 25, No. 7 lent an air of orchestration to the evening. Even though Chopin was hardly a symphonist (he is considered to have been a rather uneducated orchestrator), he seemed to enjoy incorporating instrumental sonorities–either consciously or subconsciously–into his piano works.
This season–according to biographical notes–Koras has been invited to perform with the St. Petersburg (Russia) Symphony Orchestra and to perform again with the Beethoven Festival Orchestra at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. In recent seasons, she was invited to perform an all-Chopin recital in Mexico City and at the Wolf Trap Ball, among other appearances. Clearly, Chopin is in her blood, and audiences consistently fill Weill Recital Hall to hear her play his music.
