A review of the concert on September 16, 2012 by Gary Lemco.
After having delivered his third encore, the Earl Wild transcription of Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm,” pianist Spencer Myer received a generous ovation from the small but enthusiastic audience at Le Petit Trianon Theatre, San Jose, Sunday, September 16. Many patrons may have assumed that the announcement of the Trianon’s fiscal ills might cancel the venue for the opening of the nineteenth season of Steinway Society the Bay Area concerts, but hopefully, persistent advertising will remedy the situation. Myer had already graced his ambitious program of Haydn, Debussy, List, Albéniz, and Moszkowski with his first encore, Siloti’s transcription of the Bach B Minor Prelude and then spontaneously followed Edward MacDowell’s brilliant _Hexentanz_, a brilliant etude much in the manner of Liszt’s _La Leggierezza_.
An ongoing issue at this concert hall is its acoustic and its response to the Steinway piano used, and whether the ensuing hard patina results from the keyboard or its environs. Myer, whose long fingers on large hands easily accommodated the various works on his diverse program, opened with Haydn’s 1784 Sonata No. 54 in G Major, a work in two movements, the first of which comprises a double variation on a pair of complementary themes in G in both modes, major and minor. Articulate and florid, Myer presented what seemed a Scottish air and subjected it to a series of cascading runs and repeated notes reminiscent of Scarlatti. Alert to the humor in Haydn’s sensibility, Myer played the second movement Presto with fleet abandon, deftly accenting its rondo form even as it, too, exploited a facile sense of variation.
The first half concluded with a major opus from the pen of Claude Debussy, his 1909-1910 first set of Préludes. Debussy objected to the term “impressionistic” to describe his “sound characters.” While the titles delve into places, weather, and even Greek subjects, the music remains merely evocative, so that the musical effect might suggest the title that follows its performance. We might recall that the paintings of Turner no less influence Debussy’s own musical palette, his distinctive wash of colors permeated with light. Myer presented a digitally refined series of musical impressions, but his pedaling could be erratic, so the mix might appear hard and distinct or blurred or monochromatic. _Le vent dans la plaine_ is to be “played as lightly as possible,” but Myer made it a Liszt toccata. _Ce qu’a vu le Vent d’Ouest_ presents a more violent etude that suited Myer’s clear, aggressive style. A feminine flutter marked _Voiles_, while Myer’s capacity for vocal _parlando_ effects informed _La fille aux cheveux de lin_. Gifted with a sympathy for Mediterranean colors, Myers made _Les collines D’Anacapri_ sing with rippling 6/8 color of an alluring tarantella. Most unsettling, _Des pas sur la neige_ presents a frozen landscape whose sensibility approaches the austere minimalism and obsessiveness of the Second Viennese School. Myer did not open _La cathedrale engloutie_ softly, but he rather sent the bells of Y’s crashing out of the waves in bold sonority. _La serenade interrompue_ gave Iberia in miniature, with a series of rude interjections to the strumming guitar player, although the music persists in spite of callous awakenings.
After intermission, Myer resumed with the three Petrarch Sonnets of 1838 that contribute to his Second Année de pèlerinage: Italie. These pieces capture the ecstasies of both the poet and the composer, rife with rhetorical flourishes and sighs, and pianistic gestures such as crossed hands to elucidate further the destined intricacies of passionate love. Liszt’s particular _parlando_, instrumental vocalism came through plainly and honestly. Reaction remained mixed to Myer’s Liszt: some felt it detached and merely “effective,” while others felt compelled by his supple rubato and evident sympathy for the Liszt temperament. Sonetto 123 held me in thrall, its ballade-like declamations and flights of fancy well realized and breathed, less prosaic than some prior moments in the previous numbers.
The last section of Myer’s program devoted itself to Spain, first by way of native voice Isaac Albéniz and his last set of three pieces (1908) from Iberia, Book IV: Málaga, Jerez, and Eritaña. Andalusian Spain fascinates the composer, and he seems to create a folk music entirely his own to represent regions of his imaginative experience. Málaga gave us a slightly “drunken” impression, especially as its middle, “calliope” section offered modal “wrong notes” in the course of its strumming, malagueña-style. Jerez proffered a bolero of a kind, though its Phrygian mode defies simple assignment to any specific region. Eritaña invokes a popular flamenco café, but Myer’s insistence on bravura blurred the _cante jondo_ or “deep song” that inspires the soul of its sevillaña. Still, as a pure exercise in digital efficiency and bravura aplomb, Myer made his point, concluding with Moszkowski’s 1885 _Caprice espagnol_, an old Josef Hofmann display piece. Rife with flamboyant guitar motives, the repeated notes and volatile _fioritura_ of the piece provided Myer a natural vehicle, but his steely assertions could become once more monochromatic. For enthusiasm and fleetness of musical fingers, he excels; but the poetic muse tends to be overwhelmed by his poised concern for sheer digital control.
