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

Twenty-three-year-old Russian-born pianist Natasha Paremski gave a finessed and invigorated performance before an audience of around 800 in the Harriman-Jewell Series’ free Discovery Concert Series last Saturday. The pianist has an interesting story: born in Moscow, Paremski’s family made the difficult decision to immigrate to the United States in the early 90s to escape crime and economic instability after her father, a noted scientific researcher, was assaulted in what was thought to be one of the safest neighborhoods in Moscow. Paremski resumed piano lessons after settling in California and has since launched a career thanks to abundant technical and interpretive abilities that defy her young age. The pianist took to the Folly Theater’s stage Saturday evening in an elegant, floor-length, sapphire blue gown, a one-of-a-kind custom creation designed for her by a Toronto-based designer.

It’s worth mentioning that from her opening selection through to her encore Paremski defied any stereotypes about how a photogenic, young woman ought to play the piano. In the opening of Chopin’s C-sharp Minor Scherzo, she achieved an impressive volume, intensity, and dark color. Later, the quiet, descending arpeggios achieved a gauzy veiled sound of a completely different character before erupting into a strong passionate ending. The interpretation was likewise impressive, bringing a freshness to and understanding of Chopin’s score.

Composed in his mid-twenties, Prokofiev’s Visions Fugitives was an excellent choice for a Discovery Series concert. The pieces are beautifully constructed and flow nicely, yet the brevity of the twenty miniatures lends itself to a crowd with more modest attention spans. The Neoclassical underpinnings provided glimpses of familiarity while the work’s capriciousness kept the music from becoming predictable.

This is the first time I’ve heard Prokofiev on the Folly’s Hamburg Steinway and I hope it’s not the last—the instrument handled the often aggressive, sarcastic textures beautifully without any unwanted harshness. In general, Paremski maintained an effective orchestral texture, with ample clarity between the layers. Of particular note were the second “Andante” movement, where effective clarion bell-tones popped out of the mostly subdued texture of an arpeggiated bass ostinato and serpentine melody; the fourth “Animato” movement, where the six-eight rhythm achieved an ebullient bounciness; the seventh “Pittoresco” harp-like movement, where the right hand executed lovely bass pedal points under the left hand’s undulating ostinato; and the nineteenth “Presto agitatissimo e molto accentuate” movement, which displayed an aggressive, full tone reaching the powerful volume of the Chopin at the climax.

Paremski next featured a Sonata written for her by twenty-nine-year-old, eclectic composer/singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane most known for his Craigslistlieder song cycle. The opening seemed custom-built for this program with references to some of the more angular aspects of the preceding Prokofiev as well as glimpses of a similar harmonic language. This was contrasted against a couple of descending arpeggios played with the same gauzy tone of the Chopin. The second movement was built upon an andante, pulsing, quarter-note chordal pattern in the left hand over which a slow-moving, lyrical melody was superimposed. This was my favorite movement where beautiful, descending suspensions and upwardly-resolving retardations were capriciously placed in a texture that, at moments, hinted at the more esoteric compositions of Thom Yorke. Paremski displayed some aggressive virtuosity in the starkly contrasting sections of the third movement.

Returning to the stage after intermission, Paremski’s performance of Brahms’ Second Sonata in F-sharp Minor was passionate and informed. However, in the context of the rest of the program, the Brahms did not achieve the same luster that the pianist brought to Chopin, Kahane, and Prokofiev.

The pianist, herself, provided perhaps the best description of Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata  No. 7 in B-flat Major in her “audience conversation” following the performance. To paraphrase, Paremski eloquently characterized Prokofiev’s second “War Sonata” as a depiction of the Stalin “machine” constraining the Russian people to be in step or suffer the consequences. She continued that Prokofiev created a piece around this theme while infusing a human element of individuality wrestling within the confines of the militaristic structure. This deep understanding of the piece was evident in the pianist’s performance which was notably athletic in the first and third movements. It was only in the central parts of the second movement, “Andante caloroso,” that I felt the energy and direction sag briefly.

Paremski closed with a wispy encore of Chopin’s “Harp” Étude in A-flat Major before returning to the stage for an enlightening question and answer with Harriman-Jewell Series Director Clark Morris. Paremski, who’d taken time to trade her concert gown for a stylish black top and skirt with knee-high leather boots, displayed a grounded, slightly self-effacing, and witty demeanor. She shared that she’d first met Kahane at one of his solo singer/songwriter shows in a dive bar in New York, though she’d known his father, pianist Jeffrey Kahane, for some time. She spoke eloquently about her program repertory, allowing that she might have been a little over-the-top with her Chopin Scherzo. One of her last audience questions found the young pianist insisting to an audience member that she in fact loved Brahms and didn’t find him pretentious, though she wouldn’t date Brahms, Chopin, or any other composers as they tend to be too crazy. Well-said under the circumstances.

REVIEW:
Harriman-Jewell Discovery Series
Natasha Paremski, piano
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Folly Theater
300 W 12th St, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-451-5025 or visit http://hjseries.org

Top Photo: Natasha Paremski (Photo by Andrea Joynt)

By Topher Levin

Classical Editor and Contributor

Christopher (Topher) Levin is a composer, pianist, music theorist, and music blogger based in Kansas City, MO. His compositions have been performed at music festivals across the US and in Europe. He has spent two summers in Paris, France studying music at the Ecole Normale de Musique through the EAMA program. His trio for clarinet, piano, and percussion is published in the SCI Journal of Scores.

Topher holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (M.M.) in music theory and (M.M.) in composition and from James Madison University in Virginia (B.M.) in composition. Primary composition teachers have included John S. Hilliard, Paul Rudy, Zhou Long, James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Claude Baker, Narcis Bonet, Michel Merlet, and João Pedro Oliveira. His piano teachers have included Patricia Brady and Karen Kushner. Topher maintains a piano studio of 22 students.

Having recently completed a Master's thesis on the beautiful complexities of Chinary Ung's trio, Spiral I, Topher turned his writing attention to the more informal blogging medium. He has taken to it quite well, sharing posts on strange and wonderful music and art found across the web with a modest but growing number of blog followers. He looks forward to writing for KCM and sharing with its readers the stories of all the amazing musicians performing in Kansas City.