Date: March 21, 2004
see also: Press release | Ursula Oppens Concert & Bio

Ursula Oppens

The Steinway Society The Bay Area welcomed New York pianist Ursula Oppens to Le Petit Trianon, San Jose on Sunday, March 21, 2004. The highlight of the evening turned out to be the contrasted works of Lou Harrison that began the second half of the program.

Known for her dedicated advocacy of contemporary piano writing, Ms. Oppens captured perfectly the Schoenbergian style of the Prelude from Harrison's 1943 Suite for Piano, with its reluctant gracefulness emerging from dull dissonances reminiscent of a gray day in Germany. Nothing could have been sunnier than the three one-movement sonatas that followed, numbers IV, V, and VI of the Six Sonatas for Cembalo [harpsichord] or Piano. The playing of these was notable for its clarity and charm. Number IV is clearly a 20th-century homage to Scarlatti, while number V began to sound more like a piece from Bartok's Mikrokosmos, and number VI had the spirit of a Bear Dance. Of the many tributes to Lou Harrison heard in this area during the past year, none was more delightful than this short selection of piano pieces, especially as an affectionate offering from an East Coast artist.

The program concluded with the solo piano versions of Ravel's Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, and La Valse. There was much to enjoy in the variety of the noble and sentimental set, and in the virtuosity and broad orchestral effects of La Valse, although this became splashy at times. As an encore, Ms. Oppens gave a pleasing account of Debussy's Reflets dans l'eau from the first set of Images.

In the first half of the recital, we had heard disappointing accounts of sonatas by Beethoven and Scriabin, generally over-pedaled and often too loud. I was not alone at the intermission in wondering how the new 9-foot Steinway could be sounding so ungrateful to the ear. In the first movement of Beethoven's G-major Sonata Op. 31, No. 1, the momentum was good, but the clean precision, essential to the witty syncopation of the chords, was lacking. The slow movement found the melody often submerged by heavy accompanying figures, and the rondo finale had the same virtues and vices as the first movement.

Scriabin's F-# major 5th Sonata, Op. 53, had its rewarding moments of delicacy and repose, and much of the composer's unconventional rhythmic drive. However, one longed for the sparkling tone color that Horowitz brought to the bravura passages, although the brilliant finish came off well.

Ursula Oppens must often have felt in her career that she was ahead of her time as she pioneered new music. In another sense, she was perhaps a year ahead of her time here in San Jose, since the Steinway Society has just announced that next season they will be adding two concerts of contemporary music to their usual series of six concerts, and subscribers will have the option whether or not they wish to attend the two extra concerts. It was tantalizing not to have been able to hear Ms. Oppens play a complete program of the contemporary works in which she has established an enviable reputation.