Reviews

If you're a concertgoer, surely you've had the experience: hearing a performer of skill and taste make all the right moves without ever quite moving you.

That was my reaction to pianist Sa Chen on Friday evening at Southern Methodist University's Caruth Auditorium. Third-prize winner in the 2005 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the Chinese pianist was presented in the Meadows School of the Arts Distinguished Artist Recital Series.

Ms. Chen left no doubt that she can play the piano very well. And it wasn't that she lacked ideas or musical points of view.

Her performance of the Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition got a standing ovation; an accomplished pianist sitting nearby even shouted a couple of "Bravas." Maybe it all just went over my head.

In the Mussorgsky, Ms. Chen vividly characterized the musical responses to illustrations by the Russian artist Victor Hartmann. The "Promenade" was quite brisk at its first appearance, the second beautifully caressed. Apt to the chaos suggested in "Tuileries" and "Ballet of the Chicks in Their Shells," the fast notes sometimes hurried ahead.

But great performances – one maybe 15 years ago by Radu Lupu sticks in the mind – cast a magic spell. This one impressed as, well, impressive and thoughtful piano playing, with considerable power when warranted.

(Why, at a university, no less, was there a page and a half about Ms. Chen but not a word on the music, nothing to explain titles like "Bydlo" and "Il vecchio castello?")

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata started very mysteriously. But it was soon evident that the "tune," such as it is, was straightjacketed by those undulating triplets. The movement would have been more effective if the triplets had been allowed more give-and-take to accommodate the tune. The chattering chords of the finale were pretty metronomic when they wanted more freedom to define musical shapes.

Three Chopin mazurkas and the Op. 49 Fantasy were expressively played but again without quite casting a spell.

Actually, the evening's one bit of magic came with the encore, "Autumn Moon on a Peaceful Lake," by Chinese composer Chen Pei Fun. With lovely ripples and arpeggios, this sounded a bit like Chinese Rachmaninoff, and Ms. Chen played it ravishingly.

ARCHIVES: Search for more stories on this and other topics | Search Tips

SUBSCRIBE: Get The Dallas Morning News delivered to your home