Pianist prefers nuance to flash

In his program of works by Bach, Chopin and Schubert, pianist Richard Goode was at his best while playing Bach’s fifth French Suite.

The piece is composed of mostly light Baroque dance music, which suited Goode’s light touch and clean, crisp playing well. His fingers danced on the keys during the faster passages, and the ornamental trills were sharp and measured.

Much of Bach’s music starts with a theme, which is repeated in the different voices (bass, middle range, treble) and accompanied by filigree runs in surrounding voices. Following the theme as it travels from voice to voice, especially in his fugues, is one of the more gratifying experiences in all of classical music and Goode’s ability to lead the listener through one of Bach’s more difficult fugues was impressive.

From the beginning he imbued the theme of the G minor Fugue from the second book of The Well-Tempered Clavier with a stern character and he managed to keep the theme and the character upfront and center even while it was competing with three other simultaneous melodic lines.

The works by Bach joined a series of short works by Chopin to make up the first half of the program — a choice deliberately made by Goode to highlight the influence that Bach had on Chopin in writing multiple voices.

Chopin was a slim, sickly man for most of his short life and was physically incapable of making big, bombastic sounds on the piano, yet many of his works — at least in their present day interpretations — feature crashing chords and furious runs. For instance, the main motif of Chopin’s dark Scherzo in C-sharp minor consists of parallel octaves in both hands loudly and ominously whirling down the keyboard.

Listening to, say, Sviatoslav Richter’s interpretation of the piece the octaves are heavy and full of rage. Goode played them much faster, but did not create the overwhelming sonic power that Richter does.

Goode’s interpretation may have been closer to Chopin’s, given the composer’s physical limitations. There’s still something satisfying about the octaves attacking the listener’s ears, though.

The nuances of Goode’s playing worked well to create a smooth sheen over Chopin’s Nocturne in F-sharp minor Op. 15, No. 2.

The same subtlety was present in his performance of a collection of Chopin Mazurkas. While the approach succeeded in bringing out some interesting facets that may get lost in a more traditional interpretation, it also gave the pieces a quiet, stayed demeanor.

Mazurkas, modeled after Polish peasant dances, are often heavy-handed and quirky in nature with lots of stark and comical dynamic changes and rhythmic variations. Goode’s Mazurkas sometimes came across as elegant, bourgeoisie affairs instead of drunken peasant revelry.

Schubert’s Sonata in B-flat major completed the program. In the slow second movement the pianist’s left hand created a nonchalant backdrop against which the right hand cried out in pain, rage and triumph.

In the third movement, marked “allegro vivace con delicatezza,” Goode’s right hand asked questions anxiously in the treble register that were comfortingly answered by the left hand in the tenor range. The whole conversation was accompanied by a light, delicate staccato fabric.

Although Goode kept his body mostly still during the performance, his face was animated with expressions that oscillated between childlike joy and hurt anger. He sang along with several of the pieces, producing vocal accents somewhere between humming and singing, much like legendary Bach interpreter Glenn Gould earned a reputation for doing.

As an encore, Goode played the Sarabande from Bach’s first Partita.

Reporter ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.