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Aspen Music Festival reviews Posted by Daniel Jones on July 20, 2008, 7:09 am 76.24.225.202 I've enjoyed reading your reviews from Aspen, and have found most of them spot-on. But I was a little less keen on Ann Schein's playing Wednesday than your reviewer. The Wanderer-Fantasy in particular was considerably overpedaled to my ears. The long-short-short long-short-short motives that permeate the piece should not be pedaled together, yet Schein did so almost without fail. This often rendered the music ponderous and heavy where it should have been crisp and nimble, particularly in the scherzo-like third movement. And her rubato often seemed to be employed in the service of technical facility rather than for musical reasons. Not that one can blame her - I'm a piano student at the festival and can attest that the Wanderer-Fantasy is murderously difficult. But I think the piece demands a certain fearlessness that perhaps wasn't quite there. The opening of Dalbavie's Piano Trio reminded me strongly of the opening of Monument from Ligeti's Three Pieces for Two Pianos. In the Ligeti, the interval is a minor third rather than a minor second. I wonder if anyone else noticed the similarity. And finally, I hope the moderators will indulge a shameless plug on my part. I too have been reviewing AMFS concerts on my blog at http://www.ansatz-blog.com/index.php?tag=aspen. Perhaps readers who enjoyed Mr. Steiman's excellent commentary would be interested in another perspective on the festival.  Post a Response

Re: Aspen Music Festival reviews Posted by Harvey Steiman on July 20, 2008, 2:37 pm, in reply to "Aspen Music Festival reviews" 70.59.48.166 Thanks for the kind words, Daniel. While I would agree that Ann Schein used more pedal in the Wanderer Fantasy than some pianists would, I didn't get the feeling it was at all mushy. In fact, I found the balance she struck between crispness and softness ideal. And yes, the opening of the Dalbavie Trio did put me in mind of Ligeti. The insistent single pitch out of nowhere reminded me of "Mesto, Rigido e Cerimonale" (which Stanley Kubrick employed so effectively in the film Eyes Wide Shut).  Post a Response

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