Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 3, 1990 TAG: 9004030175
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: R LENGTH: Medium
This recital was notable because Sandor performed part of the piano transcription of Bartok's "Concerto for Orchestra." The pianist gave the official premiere of the work two months ago in Chicago. His critically acclaimed world-premiere recording of the piece, however, has been available on CBS Masterworks for two years.
Sunday's recital was weighted toward Romantic composers. To works by Brahms, Liszt, Chopin and Debussy were added one piece by Bach as well as the Bartok fragment.
Sandor began with his own transcription of the familiar Toccata and Fugue in D minor of Johann Sebastian Bach. Though all piano versions of this great work for organ are to some extent inevitable failures, Sandor's transcription is more satisfactory than most in rendering the spirit of Bach on the piano. It is far less florid than the well-known version by Feruccio Busoni, for example, and relies less on continual application of the pedal.
Sandor's playing in this piece and the rest of his selections was marked by a muscular, rough-hewn quality that is attractive precisely because it does not preclude poetry. One concertgoer was heard to remark, "He certainly doesn't have a namby-pamby approach to the instrument." Sandor chiseled out the main lines in the fugue section of the work with a fine clarity that was a pleasure to hear.
Next were the Capriccio in F-sharp and the Capriccio in B minor, Op. 76, Nos. 1 and 2 by Johannes Brahms, which Sandor played with evident affection. They were followed by the longest work on the program, the Sonata in B minor of Franz Liszt, the apotheosis of pianistic romanticism. This moving and sometimes noisy work Sandor rendered with sensitivity.
After the interval came the familiar Ballade No. 1 in G minor of Frederic Chopin and the "Masques" of Claude Debussy. These two pieces, however, were merely a prelude to the highlight of this recital, which was the Finale from the piano reduction of the "Concerto for Orchestra" of Bela Bartok. The original version of this work is one of the true masterpieces of the 20th-century orchestral repertoire, and to hear the familiar phrases coming from a piano is a startling experience.
In an interview last year, Sandor said that in some ways the piano reduction is a greater work of art than the original, in that the artist is required to produce the same effect with only 10 fingers and 88 keys. Sandor himself had a hand in producing this version of the work, assisting his master with technical and copying problems, so he is quite familiar with it.
Despite this, however, the work is of such difficulty that it was the only piece on the recital for which Sandor required sheet music and a page turner. It demands of the artist immense reservoirs both of virtuosity and stamina.
Sandor's performance of this part of the Concerto was of such power and breadth that the Preston Hall crowd was nearly bowled over. That an artist well into his 70s could play such difficult music with Sandor's brio and authority "gives you hope for the future," said competition director Kathryn Obenshain. His audience refused to let Sandor escape until he had given them two encores.
Sandor chose two artists to share first prize in the adult section of this year's contest. They were Victoria Fischer of Pennsylvania and Edit Patocs of California. Third prize went to Deborah Clasquin, also of California.
by CNB