A review of the concert on September 14, 2008 by Sharon Brook.
The opening concert of the Steinway Society’s 2008-2009 season on Sunday, September 13th, sparkled with the multifaceted playing of Gwendolyn Mok, Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at San Jose State’s School of Music and Dance. Dr. Mok presented an intriguing program thematically connected under the heading of Hommage. Each work performed was either dedicated to another great composer, a loved one or a specific musical genre. Fittingly, the entire concert was dedicated to the memory of Henry Schiro, devoted patron of music and music education in the San Jose Community.
Setting the stage for her programming and providing a running commentary on the music, Ms. Mok was engaging and informative. She essentially invited the packed Trianon audience into her parlor for the recital. Indeed, many audience members scurried up on stage afterward to examine her Erard piano.
The first half, played on the Steinway ‘D,’ opened with Haydn’s Andante with Variations in F minor. This late work is built on a double variation form, pitting a dark minor theme against a bright major twin. Ms. Mok demonstrated a thorough grasp of Haydnesque sonority; her playing was crisp and effervescent. The voicing, echo effects and filigree -especially the twinkly trills – were precisely rococo in style. The double theme also projected well throughout the variations.
If the Haydn Variations were the aural equivalent of a Pinot grigio, the Schumann Fantasy in C major, which followed, would be a rich, velvety Cabernet sauvignon. Mok elicited such a dramatically different timbre that it seemed like she was playing a different instrument. The warm, full-bodied sound that she produced was archetypically romantic. In her hands, this long, discursive 3-movement work always made sense because she consistently followed the line. This precluded muddiness – a particular problem when playing Schumann’s thick textures. She captured the schizoid nature of Schumann’s musical personality – rhapsodic vs. introspective – very well. The outer movements, paeans to his beloved Clara, incorporate quotations from Beethoven (including Moonlight Sonata) as well as an acronym on the 2 A’s in Clara’s name in the opening melody. The second movement, a march, was played regally by Mok.
The second half of the concert was played on Ms. Mok’s restored 1875 Erard piano. After chronicling its history and salient features – as the double escapement mechanism, lighter action, and ‘woodier’ sound – the audience was treated to the pungency of a Sauvignon blanc, aurally speaking. It was quite a revelation for most to hear the next 3 works played with their authentic instrumentation.
Mendelssohn’s Variations Serieuses, written in memory of Beethoven, were modeled on Beethoven’s 32 Variations in C minor. Hence, they are formalistic in structure and harmony. However, the influences of both Bach – in the chorale theme and fugal variations – and Schumann – in romantic affinities – are apparent. Mok’s performance of this theme and 17 variations was scrupulous. The pronounced difference in timbre from the Steinway was the drier, clearer tone overall and the stopped sound of the chords. Also, the Erard enables faster tempos due to its lighter action.
Ms. Mok seemed to invoke the spirit of Liszt in the 2 Petrarch Sonnets (123 and 104) which followed. The stunning harplike effects produced by the arpeggiated figuration illustrated why Liszt loved playing this piano. Mok pulled out all the stops on these rhapsodic tone poems, fluctuating from spaciousness to high drama.
The last piece on the program, Ravel’s Tombeau de Couperin, plumbed the full panoply of the Erard’s attributes. Ms. Mok had the privilege of being the last student of Vlado Perlmutter (in 1994) who was Ravel’s student in 1927. We, in turn, had the privilege of hearing 4 movements of Tombeau played authentically and exquisitely. She captured the dance-like characters of this neoclassical work as well as the saucy dissonances and jabbing inflections. Her clarity and fluency were a joy to behold. And the closing Toccata displayed the Erard’s double-escapement action to the hilt.
Sunday’s soundfest ended with the audience thirsting for more from the seemingly indefatigable Dr. Mok, but, alas, her cup was empty.
