KCMETROPOLIS.org
Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Ivan Moravec returned to Kansas City last Friday night capping off the Master Pianists series of The Friends of Chamber Music.  A warm, but small audience of fans welcomed him back to the intimate Folly Theater with open arms.  Moravec's genius, even after nearly 70 years of wowing audiences around the world, is still a very well kept secret.   When telling friends in the know that I was going to see Moravec's recital the overall response was, "Lucky you, he's wonderful. You won't be disappointed."  

Ivan Moravec has been described as a "titan," a "marvel" and "one of the century's great pianists." Presenter Cynthia Siebert touted his technique and taste, and hailed him as the last of the great European pianists.  It's easy to focus on the minutia of his playing, the color of his touch, the architecture of his lines; but more important than any of that, to me, is his expression and what he says through the music: the deeper meaning.

Moravec opened the recital with two selections by the Czech composer Leoš Janáček.  The pieces were written late in the composer's life and were full of sentimental reveries which Moravec seemed to easily embody.  Like Janáček, Moravec grew up on the border between the Czech Republic and Moravia.  When Moravec played, he looked up and away perhaps visualizing the landscapes of his youth.  His rhythmically free interpretation seemed to mimic the vocal inflection of a person relating a story.  He started and stopped frequently in places that aren't marked with a fermata, but where the musical phrase needed a breath and time to remember the scene. In this way, he brought this little known collection from, Along an Overgrown Path and In the Mists, an authentic Czech voice.   

The first piece in the Debussy set takes its title from Baudelaire, "Les sons et les parfumes tournent dans l'air du soir."  Poet Charles Baudelaire had a resounding impact on the French impressionist composers of the early 20th century who would regularly mine his poems for sexy song texts. Debussy created a heady composition with alternating mixed meters and rapidly shifting harmonies in an effort to stimulate all of the senses, musically.  Moravec lovingly performed the piece and the effect was enchanting.

In the following selection, Pour le Piano, also by Debussy, French keyboard music of the Baroque is subtly referenced. "The Prelude," "Sarabande" and "Toccata" each blend impressionism with the influences of Frances former musical glory.   At times it seemed that the feedback Moravec was getting from the instrument wasn't auditory but tactile. It was as if he were listening through his fingers: carving the sound like a potter at the wheel.

Many in the audience will recall pieces from the next set from their own piano pedagogy.  Debussy's Children's Corner Suite has been a mainstay of the intermediate repertoire for a century.  Refreshed by a master's touch, the audience enjoyed a chance to hear a more evolved interpretation.   The pieces come to life as "Dr. Gradus" and "Parnassus" mark time, and "Jimbo" the charming pink stuffed elephant lumbers along the pentatonic scale.  Who wouldn't giggle at the little girl prattling away at her doll as Moravec lightly bounced along effortlessly, letting the left hand tell the whole story.  In "Snow is Dancing," a cynical adult voice in the lower register parallels the breathless wonder of the child's voice in the upper.  The artistry here is to allow the listener to hear the subtle difference in their reaction to a snowy theme.  They are saying the same thing at the same time, but the adult voice is resigned while the child is invigorated. Only a master can make that clear, and Moravec did.

The final pieces were the true crowd pleasers.  The Chopin Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 52 followed by the Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23.  Moravec has long been considered a premier Chopin interpreter.  With the 200th birthday of Chopin next year we were allowed only a tantalizing taste, so as not to ruin our appetites for next season's Chopin extravaganza.  Placing two intense Ballades one balanced on top of the other was an interesting choice resulting in not one but two encores including a charming Haydn presto.   

My friends were right about Ivan Moravec, he doesn't disappoint.  Years of life experience are infused into each note.  There is a burnished glow about his tone, which isn't overly bright but mellow. He has much to teach audiences and listening to him is more than enjoyable, it's enlightening.


REVIEW:
The Friends of Chamber Music
Ivan Moravec, piano
Friday, April 17, 2009
The Folly Theatre
12th and Central, Downtown Kansas City, MO
www.chambermusic.org

By Megan Browne Helm

Classical, Vocal and Theatre Contributor

Megan Browne Helm grew up singing, dancing and acting.  Inspired by Emma Kirkby as a high school student in St. Louis she went on to study voice and sing with the Collegium Musicum at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio where she also had a radio show of contemporary classical music on WOBC.  At the University of Kansas she had the pleasure of working with former Kings’ Singer, Simon Carrington in his Collegium Musicum and Oread consort. Years later, she was a choral fellow at the Yale School of Music’s  Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.  She is currently singing with the Kansas City Symphony Chorus under the direction of Charles Bruffy. 

 As a freelance music and culture writer her work can be found on KCMetropolis.org, presentmagazine.com, the Lawrence Journal World, Shawnee Magazine, Leawood Lifestyle Magazine and KC Parent.  She was one of 26 journalists in the country chosen as a NEA Institute Fellow for Classical Music and Opera at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. 

Her current interest is how classical music remains relevant through active collaborations with artists in different fields, including science.  She also sees a connection between classical music, travel and food as a way to engage all of the senses in a 360 degree cultural experience.  She blogs at raworganum.wordpress.com.