Pelosi and Pianists: Repertory and New Works in Review
Louis Pelosi, composer
Sharon Chang, piano; Dominika Gacka, piano; Mateusz Borowiak, piano
Merkin Hall at Kaufman Center, New York, NY
October 20, 2024
On Sunday evening, Louis Pelosi presented the world premieres of four of his piano works, with works by Chopin and Szymanowski completing the program. The audience at Merkin Hall was alarmingly sparse, in spite of the presence of three gifted musicians on stage, who performed the works of a prolific living composer. Alarming perhaps, but hardly surprising; this was only yet another proof that living composers (with a few notable exceptions) struggle to get their music performed and embraced by even the most seasoned and experienced concert goers. It came as no surprise to read – in the program notes – that Mr. Pelosi, who has earned his livelihood as a self-employed piano technician, has been self-initiating and self-funding his own showcases throughout the years. No pretense here, just a frank statement about the status quo: new music is a hard sell, and composers are lucky to find performers who are willing to invest their time and energy in bringing new pieces to life, as well as an audience who has the interest to buy tickets… I suppose Mr. Pelosi can count himself among the lucky ones, though – based on last night’s performance – with different degrees of success.
The concert was dedicated to the late Joe Patrych, a well-known and much-loved producer and recording engineer, who died suddenly at the end of 2023 and is very much missed by his (many) friends. The repertoire was exclusively for piano solo, and it was performed by Sharon Chang, Dominika Gacka and Mateusz Borowiak. Mr. Pelosi offered two sets of miniatures (twelve each), a short piano duet titled Six Tonal Studies and, as the big finale, the Piano Sonata No. 9. His music is filled with chromatic intricacies, occasionally borrowing from old techniques such as Baroque polyphony and canonic imitation, without a key signature but often revolving around a “central” key, which is usually marked in the score at the beginning of each piece (more as a stabilizing reference point than an actual tonal or harmonic adherence). The composer doesn’t shy away from contrasts, which he often employs in effective and surprising ways be it in the form of dynamics, meter, or use of registers. The texture can get busy, but there is a certain clarity of purpose which breaks through the more complicated passages. Every now and then, I detected some Eastern European influences (more than once I recalled Bartók) but perhaps some of this was reflecting my own heritage.
In the first piece on the program, pianist Sharon Chang seemed very careful to convey every indication found in the music score. Unfortunately, she also overused the pedal, which led to some lack of clarity and a more opaque color palette than this music deserves. Some of the melodic lines got drowned and I wished for more suppleness in some of the miniatures; instead, what should have been flying high was a bit earth-bound. The music seemed to offer more opportunities for nuance than the performer conveyed.
In a most puzzling manner, Ms. Chang followed the Pelosi piece with a rendition of Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantaisie,Op. 61. I am totally unable to decipher the reason for this pairing, other than the pianist’s love for this particular Chopin opus. (A set of Bach three-part Inventions would have been, in my opinion, a much more logical and intriguing choice; even one of Ravel’s piano suites would have provided a more fitting musical partnership.) Sadly, she seemed to fight laboriously to get to the heart of this rather elusive masterpiece, which is a truly visionary work. While she has undeniable good fingers, Ms. Chang’s body language suggested that she was overwhelmed by Chopin’s challenges rather than rising above them.
The first half of the program concluded with Mr. Pelosi’s Twelve Vignettes, which I confess was my favorite among his compositions on this program. There is a lot of charm in these short splashes of color, and occasionally a pang of depth, such as in the surprising and moving No. 5 (For Dolores), which Ms. Chang performed beautifully.
After the intermission, we were treated to an excellent performance of Szymanowski’s superb suite Three Masques, Op. 34. The pianist, Mateusz Borowiak, clearly feels at home in this powerful and intricate piece, which made for a much better program companion to the Pelosi pieces than the Chopin of the first half. Mr. Borowiak impressed me with his knife-sharp tone, well-delineated levels, and seemingly endless variety of articulation. He played with energy and bravura, maybe lacking a bit in the soft dynamics range; especially in the first movement, Schéhérazade, I felt the need for more mystique. Sometimes he rushed and sacrificed humor to authority.
After the Szymanowski, Mr. Borowiak was joined by Dominika Gacka for a four-hand duet by Mr. Pelosi – the Six Tonal Studies. This was a wonderful, organic collaboration between two gifted young artists, who both connected with the music they were performing. The compositional format of these pieces was (for each one) an intriguing aller-retour between two keys, an idea I found original and beautifully realized.
The evening came to a close with Mateusz Borowiak’s rendition of the challenging Piano Sonata No. 9 by Louis Pelosi. Again, he performed with authority and precision, though I can’t help thinking that the piece requires perhaps more reflection on the part of the performer. There are moments of truly special writing (especially in the second and the last movements) through which the pianist seemed to sail rather than enjoy. The second movement’s Lento became almost Andantino, losing some of the magic with which Mr. Pelosi imbued the score. I felt that this music needs (and deserves) a more intimate, fragile quality. In the Finale, I could have used more difference between contrasting dynamics. However, the overall effect was powerful, convincing the listener that both the performer and the composer have something meaningful and urgent to communicate.
I walked out of the concert hall wishing that Mr. Pelosi, and other composers of his caliber, would not need to always self-initiate opportunities for their work to be noticed and admired.
