Music Reviews : Pressler Gives Recital

Menahem Pressler is perhaps best known as the pianist of the Beaux Arts Trio, but he does like getting out on his own once in a while. Sunday afternoon at Biola University in La Mirada, the spotlight was focused solely on him in a recital of music by Handel, Mozart and Chopin.

He didn’t lack entirely for company, however. Pressler chose Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 14, K. 449, as the centerpiece of his program, and four local string players were recruited to provide accompaniment. They are best left unnamed.

Mozart himself authorized this quintet version of his concerto: the parts for oboes and horns are optional, allowing for scaled-down performances. The string players on this occasion were sadly inadequate. Poor intonation and meager tone were their outstanding qualities.

They were a mismatch for Pressler. His was a reading of warm expression and lush tone. Melody lines were lyrically delivered with legato touch and flexible tempos. Bass lines were ringing and forthright. Given Pressler’s rich sonorities, a full orchestra wouldn’t have been a bad idea.

He concluded the concert in an uneven performance of the 24 Preludes, Opus 28, by Chopin. In the slower moving Preludes, Pressler could be casually elegant, tossing off a beautiful melody with colorful, rhetorical flourishes. At quicker tempos, however, this casualness turned to haste. The swirling arpeggios became a slapdash blur, and clarity of lines, of shapes, were lost in the rush.

Pressler opened with the Chaconne (with 20 variations) in G by Handel--an oddity on the piano these days, but nevertheless wonderful to hear in Pressler’s anachronistically lavish account.