The Catskill Chronicle

Review by Barry Plaxen

SHANDELEE, NY (August 21, 2011) – After two chamber music concerts, the 2011 Shandelee Music Festival offered a solo piano recital by Moscow-born Alexander Shtarkman on August 13. A winner of multiple major prizes over the last twenty-two years, Shtarkman concertizes regularly all over the world. For his Livingston Manor concert this year he chose music by the masters: Mozart, Schumann, Chopin and Tchaikovsky.

The opening selection was Mozart’s “Sonata in a minor, K318.” It was composed at the time of Mozart’s mother’s death, probably the reason for the very dark quality of the piece which Mr. Shtarkman played with his usual power, dash and eagerness.

Schumann’s popular fantasy “Kreisleriana, Op.16” followed. Dedicated to Chopin, this dramatic work has eight movements, most of them given tempi starting with the word “sehr” (very). So each movement is something of a slight exaggeration, be it slow or fast, lively or agitated, creating an intense listening experience. It is “sehr” well-suited to Mr. Shtarkman’s prowess.

As with the Mozart piece, the Chopin nocturne and ballade chosen for the program required more bravura than lyricism. Though the program notes suggested that ballade (Op. 52 No., 4) was a piece of programmatic music, following the story was not necessary to enjoying the brilliant music for it own sake.

Mr. Shtarkman closed with a very interesting work I had never heard before, Mikhail Pletnev’s solo piano arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite.” I found myself fascinated by Pletnev’s inspired re-working of seven of the ballet’s movements. Especially clever was “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” tinkled away with great panache by Mr. Shtarkman. All the movements were quite colorful and varied, and I enjoyed it immensely, probably because of my familiarity with the original orchestral composition, enabling me to be aware of the similarities and differences in the arrangement.

The overly enthusiastic audience was treated to two encores, one by Schubert and one by Tchaikovksy. It was a wonderful finale to the first portion of the Shandelee Music Festival, the concerts by world class artists.