Pacifica Tribune 12

Pacifica Tribune Review of The San Francisco Concerto Orchestra's 2006 International Competition November 17, 2006 at Sanchez Concert Hall, Pacifica (published November 22, 2006)

Riding a Train of Musical Locomotion

By Jean Bartlett
Arts Correspondent

Born in northeastern Spain in May of 1860, composer, pianist Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz was considered to be Spain’s greatest prodigy at the ripe old age of eight.  Legend has it by age 12, Albéniz had grown impatient with the caliber of his studies and so he caught a ship to Argentina, courtesy of stowaway prices, and at first made a humble living from playing at cafés.  But suddenly realizing he could turn his back on the piano and still play it exceptionally well with the backs of his fingertips, Albéniz then made enough in tips to travel the world and be back in Spain by the time he was fifteen.  Legend also suggests that Albéniz might have been the source for the aforementioned tall tales. However, the first sentence remains true.  The virtuosic Albéniz was the youngest piano hero of Spain. By age 15, Albéniz would extend his sold-out concert hall popularity to Puerto Rico and Cuba. By age 20 his fan base included: Brussels, Budapest and Rome and eventually his music would sail the world.

Friday night, 9 year old piano virtuoso William Zhao of Dixie Elementary School, San Rafael, sat before his Pacifica Sanchez Concert Hall audience and played: “Rumores de la Caleta” by Isaac Albéniz.  The composition is a malagueña inspired under a flourish of classical piano.  The piece was the first to be performed in the San Francisco Concert Orchestra Competition entitled: Latin/Latin American Encores Tour.”  It is complicated and demanding requiring: crossed hands, stretched chords and an ability to play poetry.  Zhao met all of these challenges.

Zhao, a relaxed but thrillingly accurate pianist, swept across the dance rhythms of Spain, catching the shade and flourish of each note like a warm, romantic Spanish guitar – except of course Zhao presented his tempered fire on piano.  Obviously at ease with rhythmic flexibility and delicate finger work, Zhao is traveling a gifted musical path.

The next performer was pianist, composer, baritone and conductor Dr. Kenn Gartner.  New York City born Gartner, a graduate of The Julliard School, is also Mr. Zhao’s piano teacher.  Gartner presented several selections: “Fire Dance” (Manuel de Falla y Matheu); the world’s most famous tango “La Cumparsita” (Gerardo Matos Rodriguez); “Obrigada, Jose” (Kenn Gartner); and the additionally world renowned “Malagueña” (Ernesto Lecuona).  Exploring the great emotional rise and fall of the piano, Gartner’s fingers laughed and played lithe internal lines, moods of charm or dark intimacy, with a sonorous and obvious affection for each composer’s melodic themes and dynamics.  Explanation per song: “Fire Dance” was swagger and Romany gusto; “La Cumparsita” pulsed with exceptionally explosive rhythms and inventive tossed-in tidbits (which included a little boogie-woogie) from such tunes as Bizet’s “Habanera,” Gershwin’s “Summertime” and Berlin’s “Cheek To Cheek.”  “Obrigada, Jose” caressed and haunted and “Malagueña” was the expression of tickled abandonment.  Like his audience, Dr. Gartner enjoyed a thorough zest for each composition.

Breaking for intermission, audience members anticipated the arrival of composer, pianist and San Francisco Concerto Orchestra artistic director Seth Montfort.  Montfort known equally for his poise, his cool composure, and his piano facility for passionate and technical thunder, was late because his dachshunds, Pee Wee and Lulu, had locked him outside of his transportation.  With Triple A heading to the rescue in the far reaches of Marin and a waiting performance in Pacifica, Montfort’s four-legged friends found their own cool, unlocked the doors and Mr. Montfort arrived in Pacifica with barely the shimmer of a raised eyebrow.  And you should hear these young ladies sing. 

Montfort opened his set with “La Comparsa” (Carnival Procession) (Ernesto Lecuona).  This is a short, Cuban styled malagueña which in Montfort’s hands, played like naked drums under a Cuban dreamscape of West Africa.  If Chopin had been under the influence of Brazilian tangos and waltzes, and maybe even a little Scott Joplin, he might have called himself Ernesto Júlio de Nazareth.  Montfort next presented Nazareth’s Brazilian tango “Odeon.”  A sensitive, expressive performance by Montfort allowed his left hand to flow in liquid guitar while his right hand poured Brazil.  “Ciclo Brasileiro” by Brazilian composer Villa-Lobos was played next.  This is a four movement color wheel falling like brooding, sensual rhythms of rain – Indian, European and Afro-Brazilian in nature.  Montfort played the piece like a night poem with fingers able to pool all the secret beauty that waits within the whisperings of the knowing Rain Forest.  Though the crowd was slight, the auditory cup was full.

Pacifica Tribune November 22, 2006