{"id":9987,"date":"2013-02-22T22:42:33","date_gmt":"2013-02-23T03:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=9987"},"modified":"2013-02-22T22:42:33","modified_gmt":"2013-02-23T03:42:33","slug":"concert-review-pianist-gabriela-martinez-sparkles-fleetingly-at-glenn-gould-studio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2013\/02\/22\/concert-review-pianist-gabriela-martinez-sparkles-fleetingly-at-glenn-gould-studio\/","title":{"rendered":"Concert review: Pianist Gabriela Martinez sparkles fleetingly at Glenn Gould Studio"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Gabriela<\/a>
Gabriela Martinez at the Glenn Gould Studio on Friday night (John Terauds photo).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Martinez brought refinement, elegance and a penchant for lyrical expression to her Toronto recital d\u00e9but at the Glenn Gould Studio on Friday night.<\/p>\n

From every traditional measure, this was a fine occasion: Martinez has technique to burn, she brings a clear sense of where she wants each piece of music to go, and she knows how to bring a wide range of expression to the instrument without ever making her interpretations come across as forced or contrived.<\/p>\n

She is, in other words, a natural. The icing on the cake is that she is nice to look at and moves with an unstudied grace.<\/p>\n

Martinez also brought along some less-known repertoire, including the Canadian premiere of a piece written for her by Belgian composer-conductor Dirk Bross\u00e9.<\/p>\n

So why, for all my respect and appreciation for what Martinez brought to us, did this recital leave me unmoved?<\/p>\n

There isn’t anything she could have played better.<\/p>\n

Sergei Rachmaninov was disingenuous in giving some of his finger-twisters the anodyne title of Moment Musical<\/em>. The music needs to sound easy and spontaneous, but takes many hours of practice and sweat to get there. Somehow, Martinez gave two of the Moments Musicau<\/em>x — Nos 1 & 4 — a particularly translucent interpretation.<\/p>\n

Dirk Bross\u00e9’s Nocturne No. 1<\/em>, a sweet doughnut with a zesty jelly filling, was impressive. Samuel Barber’s final piano piece, the Ballade<\/em>, had the ideal nonchalant attitude about it.<\/p>\n

And Martinez had a lot of light-fingered fun with Beethoven’s Op. 33 Bagatelles.<\/em><\/p>\n

This brought us to intermission, at which point I was beginning to wonder why I wasn’t connecting with this fine artist.<\/p>\n

It occurred to me that the bit-of-this and bit-of-that approach to programming, especially when it comes to more introspective or lighter music, can end up feeling insubstantial.<\/p>\n

The evening’s second half confirmed my suspicions.<\/p>\n

Here came three more pieces, each prepared with the care of perfectly baked meringue: Franz Liszt’s Petrarch Sonnet No. 104<\/em>, White Lies for Lomax<\/em> by contemporary American composer Mason Bates and the fiercely difficult showpiece B-flat minor Variations<\/em> by Karol Szymanowski.<\/p>\n

More Liszt, more Szymanowski, more Barber, Beethoven or Rachmaninov might have given the evening critical mass. At 65 minutes of music, the programme was already pretty short.<\/p>\n

Do I need to feel like I’ve had to work for my musical enjoyment as a listener? I hope that’s not the case.<\/p>\n

But I guess when I’m\u00a0 in the presence of such a fine artist, I expect to be moved, not just entertained. On the other hand, I shouldn’t be placing the burden of that expectation on Gabriela Martinez.<\/p>\n

John Terauds<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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