A RICH AND INVOLVING RECITAL FROM JAVIER PERIANES

Javier Perianes (piano): Works by Clara Schumann, Brahms and Granados, Vancouver Playhouse, February 11, 2024.

It is always a special occasion when Enrique Granados’ Goyescas appears on a recital program. Alongside Albeniz’s Iberia, it is one of the greatest Spanish piano compositions of the 20th century. It is also a tremendous challenge for any pianist, being written in six movements and running to over 50 minutes in length. Javier Perianes has delighted us in the Spanish repertoire before, and has all the credentials for the undertaking, including a rich and beautiful tone and estimable agility. He has just recorded the work for Harmonia Mundi. His performance on this occasion was perhaps bolder and more direct than one is used to, but it still added up to an enrichening tour-de-force, less lyrically penetrating, but possibly finding a greater weight and reach in the work’s overall concept. The first part of the pianist’s program was very different but also instructive, comparing the efforts of Clara Schumann and Brahms to write variation pieces on the same theme of Robert Schumann.

Any discussion of Goyescas inevitably must start from Alicia de Larrocha, whose interpretations over the past 60 years have always been a reference, finding wonderful elegance, balance and a sense of completeness. Most notable are her integrative flow and subtleties of phrase and rhythm, spawning countless moments of delicacy and charm, and revealing both the improvisatory and melancholic dimensions of Francisco Goya’s expression.

If de Larrocha’s presentation exudes a clear ‘personal’ component, Perianes seemed much less this way, building the piece more in objective blocks and exposing structural components. Rather than overtly stressing flow and lyrical colour, Perianes seemingly aimed to highlight the composer’s fertile imagination in musical construction and timbre, his evident playfulness, his occasional flirtation with extremes, and the juxtaposition of such constructions within a piece. These were coupled with moments of great energy.

There was a freshness to this approach, and it featured playing of both precision and beauty. The ‘core’ movements I – IV of the work exhibited fine detailing and a cultivated rhythmic sense, but some things still did not seem exactly right. The opening jota (an eighteenth century Aragonese dance) was taken with an almost frenzied passion (faster than his recording) which slightly upset the balance in the movement and limited its charm. The powerful fandango in III was astute rhythmically but the overall result seemed plain. In the famous ‘Girl and the Nightingale’ nocturne IV, Perianes was certainly able to enter the spirit of the piece and mine some interesting emotional corners, yet it did not seem evocative enough and, at times, lacked a natural continuity, possibly because the rubato line was not sufficiently broad.

It was in the long fifth movement [El amor y la muerte (Love and death)] that the pianist’s approach paid real dividends. After the imposing dark notes that begin the piece, Perianes sustained a wonderful concentration throughout. The telling point for me was when we arrive at the softest utterances in the movement, which are normally taken to convey a deep personal sadness and regret. But here the feeling was different: the murmurings somehow conveyed a sense of wonder, of timelessness, as in Beethoven’s final sonatas. Thus, there was something more than just ‘personal’ here: there was something more universal, just like there is a universal reach and timelessness in Goya’s art.

The ‘big picture’ was completed in the Epilogue. After the striking rhythmic figure at the opening, Perianes was able to convey a true sense of homage to the painter, building the piece in a gradual flow through recognizable constructions from earlier in the work. There was wonderful nostalgia here, and a true sense of inevitability, creating almost a cinematic pageant to this great artist. Of course, given Granados’ sense of play/macabre, with the flick of the closing ascending notes, it all vanishes into the ether. A rich and consuming experience all told: I have not heard a performance of Goyescas quite as reverential as this.

The first part of the concert involved quite a different repertoire, showcasing the efforts of both Clara Schumann and Brahms to write a ‘variation’ piece on the theme in Robert Schumann’s Bunte Blätter, Op.99 No.4. Both compositions were entitled ‘Variations on a theme by Robert Schumann’ and date from the mid-1850s, the troubling time when Robert Schumann’s mental faculties had declined so much that he had to be placed in a sanitorium. Many of the variations are tinged with obvious regret and sadness, as juxtaposed with more robust and encouraging expressions. Brahms in fact went out of his way to incorporate Schumannesque constructions, including his characteristic Florestan and Eusebius design.

Perianes showed poise and judgement in displaying these pieces, conveying considerable feeling and, when needed, fire. His rich burnished tone suited the Brahms perfectly. Clara Schumann’s variations had a certain poignancy to them but, as is to be expected, they paled when set beside the sophistication of the Brahms. Nonetheless, the experiment was instructive and involving as, indeed, was the whole recital.

A scintillating rendering of Manuel de Falla's Ritual Fire Dance provided the nightcap.

JAVIER PERIANES IN PERFORMANCE