Irina Moreland: Inspirational Journey to Impressionism in Review
Irina Moreland, Piano
Guest Artist Halida Dinova, Piano
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
October 16, 2022
I often wonder why more pianists (and perhaps audiences) don’t gravitate to French piano music. It does require some specialized equipment: knowledge of how to produce infinite gradations and blends of tonal colors, often at the softest dynamic levels, precision in score-reading, and a certain temperament, one that doesn’t intrude upon the music, but allows it to speak for itself. Portions of these two qualities were found in abundance in this brief matinee on Sunday.
Pianist Irina Moreland, a double-doctorate and professor of piano in Colorado, decided to reunite with her advanced-student days friend, the equally accomplished Cleveland-based Halida Dinova for an afternoon of mainly French music, mostly Debussy with one Ravel showpiece. The pairing proved a vivid study in contrasts: Ms. Moreland being more the “wild” and Ms. Dinova the “controlled.”
Although Ms. Moreland seemed to be battling nerves, with numerous crucial memory lapses and imprecision (or misreading?), she gave a veritable master class in how to continue despite these things, and – what I was delighted to note – the essential character of each of her pieces emerged vividly.
Ms. Moreland began with four of the five scheduled Debussy Preludes from Book Two. The first three were the misty and surprisingly polytonal Brouillards (Mists), La Puerta de Vino (that evocation of the gate through which wine deliveries were made to the Alhambra), which suited her personality very well, and Les Fées sont d’exquises danseuses (Fairies are exquisite dancers), inspired by a bookplate by Arthur Rackham. Ms. Moreland really made those fairies seem airborne! The last was Feux d’Artifice (Fireworks), a Bastille Day reverie. Numerous dynamics were either reversed or ignored, nevertheless each atmosphere succeeded. The fifth Prelude would have been General Lavine-eccentric, which I thought would have also suited her temperament.
Halida Dinova then took the stage for two Debussy Preludes from Book One: La Cathédrale engloutie (The Engulfed Cathedral), from the Breton legend of the sunken city of Ys that rises only once every one hundred years then sinks back—she understood this piece totally, though I wished for more genuine pp dynamics (from both pianists, actually). Then she “tarantella-ed” her way through Les Collines d’Anacapri, an Italy replete with sun and folksong.
Ms. Moreland returned with what I found to be the only miscalculation of the afternoon: Ravel’s sarcastic, biting showpiece Alborada del gracioso. The alborada (French: aubade; English “morning song”) was traditionally sung outside the window of the illicit lovers’ bedroom just before the break of day, so the man could “self-defenestrate” and avoid being caught. Of course, Ravel has to make the whole scenario a satire, the warning sung by a clown. The musical text, as played by Ms. Moreland, simply had too many errors to be adjudicated fairly, although I will say, her flair for character redeemed it, and I’m sure many in the audience had no idea. Great glissandi, by the way!—they’re murder.
Then it was Ms. Dinova’s turn, with the gorgeous Reflets dans l’eau from the first series of Images. Despite a few odd (original) pedaling choices, she found beautiful blends suggestive of the Nymphéas (Water-lilies) by Monet in Paris’ Musée de l’Orangerie.
Ms. Moreland then returned with what I found to be a jarring shift in tone: a concert jota titled ¡Viva Navarra! by Joaquín Larregla (1865-1945). I don’t know if nerves got the better of her, but she never lost the thread of fiery passion that such a piece needs, and there were many sparkling moments of rapid treble filigree.
The two then joined forces to conclude the recital with a four-hand transcription of Khachaturian’s ubiquitous war-horse, the Sabre Dance from his ballet Gayane. It was a riot of explosive energy, as it should be, and the two of them did something I really like: a true encore, that is, after the ovation they played it again, with even more energy.
Perhaps, rather than the last two pieces, I might have liked a four-hand French selection by either Debussy or Ravel, there are plenty available and it would have preserved the theme. However, an afternoon of sharing music with each other, and with their many friends and fans, ultimately succeeded in conveying the joy of music.
