Pianist, choral conductor, composer of film music, and visual artist, Franco-Belgian Carine Gutlerner is a person of many talents. One can sample her output in all these areas at her website www.carinegutlerner.com. In a program of Beethoven, Mussorgsky, Brahms, Chopin, Tessier, and Van Rossum, to promote her two CDs on the C.E.A Musika label- Franck/Mussorgsky (2011) and Beethoven/Brahms (2014), Ms. Gutlerner performed at Weill Recital Hall on the evening of February 25, 2014. I have heard Ms. Gutlerner in recital previously at Merkin Hall, and was left with mixed feelings. On that occasion there were moments of inspiration and beauty (especially in the works by Brahms) mixed with a lax approach to detail. How I would find this performance? It is always an interesting experience to hear the same performer twice.
It should be said that there was considerable doubt this recital was even going to take place. Ms. Gutlerner only arrived several hours before the 8:00PM start time, having been subjected to the bureaucracy of those agencies responsible for issuing her a visa. I must express my admiration and respect to Ms. Gutlerner for “going on with the show” under such trying circumstances. Other artists have cancelled concerts for much less compelling reasons, but Ms. Gutlerner showed she is made of sterner stuff.
Ms. Gutlerner opened with the United States premiere of Chant de l’Aube by French composer Roger Tessier (b. 1939). A short piece that could be described as Robert Schumann making a guest appearance in a Messiaen-like work, it was played by Ms. Gutlerner with commitment and special attention to detail, bringing the Schumann quotes out with tenderness. Beethoven’s monumental Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op.111, followed and reinforced my earlier impressions. Ms. Gutlerner has her own ideas about this work and does not seem to be overly concerned with the smaller details in a reading that at times was sublime and at other times, erratic and unfocused. One wanted, even needed, more pathos and power in the opening movement and more subtlety in the Arietta. Chopin’s Ballade No.2 in F major, Op. 38 followed and was lacking the fury of the stormy second theme one hopes for, but overall, Ms. Gutlerner’s performance was solid, if somewhat undifferentiated. Twelve Miniatures, Op. 10, by the Belgian composer Frederik Van Rossum (b. 1939) followed the Chopin – No.1 (Prelude), No.9 (Toccata), No. 10 (March), No.11 (Elegy), No. 12 (Finale). These works all have strong similarities to Prokofiev and Shostakovich (The Finale I would jokingly refer to as “Son of the Prokofiev 7th”, as in the famous sonata’s finale). Ms. Gutlerner played these works with the right sense of biting humor and sarcasm in a nice end to the first half of her recital.
After intermission, Ms. Gutlerner offered two selections from the Klavierstücke, op 118, of Johannes Brahms: The No.5 Romance in F major, and the No. 6 Intermezzo in E-flat minor. Ms. Gutlerner’s playing of these Brahms pieces was exceptional. She seems to be possessed of a special affinity for his works, and I hope that she will dedicate her considerable talents for Brahms’s music more extensively. These were far and away the highlights of her recital to this listener.
Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition ended the concert, at moments commendable and other times dangerously close to coming off the rails. High points included Bydlo, played with the just the right touch of heaviness, the Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks, played with humor and grace, and the Catacombs, which was excellent. On the other side, The Hut on Fowl’s Legs (Baba Yaga) was at times nearly unrecognizable, while The Great Gate Of Kiev was beset with wrong notes and overall messiness. Ms. Gutlerner has her own ideas about this work, most of which I find to hard to embrace, but the audience seemed to be pleased with her interpretation and gave her an enthusiastic reception.
Ms. Gutlerner is an artist who paints with broad strokes. Those strokes are often seemingly careless and imprecise, but few would disagree that the larger conception is what matters the most. When one stands back and looks at the canvas, one sees the whole picture, not so much the individual brush strokes. The “whole picture” in this recital was one that provoked thought, and one of them, especially in this day and age of “production line” players, is that artists, even performers, are human beings.
