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Armenian pianist Nareh Arghamanyan triumphantly took the stage of the Folly Theatre Friday night in a Kansas City debut recital that had concert goers abuzz with her sensitive and profound interpretations of some of the deepest music written for piano.

Arghamanyan was presented by The Friends of Chamber Music as the opening concert of their 34^th season.  Most recently the winner of the Montreal Competition and of a prodigious list of piano competitions worldwide, the 20-year-old artist presented works that paid tribute to the bicentennial celebrations of three bulwarks of romanticism, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Chopin, as well as to the father of the Romantic period, Beethoven. 

But this was no evening of sentimental heart-throbbing fluff, despite the ultra romantic figure she cut onstage in a billowing garnet gown and long dark tresses that fell nearly to her waist.  As if to illustrate Artistic Director and President of The Friends of Chamber Music, Cynthia Siebert's premise that these composers were all revolutionaries of the highest order, Arghamanyan presented a program of works culled from the mature apex of each that shared astonishingly similar elements of radical departure from form and tonality, rhythm and style. 

To be certain, the program of free-form contemplative masterpieces may have been too demanding for some to fully appreciate at the end of a long work week.  For my taste, it was the sort of recital I would like to listen to again and again to revel in the beauty and insights of some of my favorite works performed with such soulful interpretations.  The only disappointment of the evening for me was the sight of some empty seats upstairs in the balcony despite The Friends' last minute generous offer to give ticket holders for the opening night concert two free tickets to the concert.  After hearing her for the first time, it wouldn't surprise me if the next time Arghamanyan graces the stage of the Folly Theatre the seats are sold out.

The program opened with what is arguably Felix Mendelssohn's finest piano composition, the Variations sérieuses in D Minor, Op. 54, written in 1841 as his contribution towards a project to erect a monument to Beethoven in Bonn.  Arghamanyan opened the work in a halting agogic statement of great tonal beauty that drew one in instantly.  As she unfolded the 17 variations ranging from pensive melancholy introspection to colossally demanding virtuoso technical passages, a hallmark of her style emerged.  Arghamanyan possesses a beautiful singing tone that never falters or loses its musical prominence even amidst blustery leggiero runs executed brilliantly.  Her technical prowess is such that it serves her musical intelligence, rather than challenges it, and with the strength of this virtuoso's musical acumen, it is a wonder to behold. 

It was followed by a performance of the Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110 by Beethoven that opened to a beautiful range of colors.  Arghamanyan performed the original version composed by Beethoven, with his original nuances of phrasing that have only very recently been rediscovered by pianist and scholar Paul Badura-Skoda, whose urtext edition will soon be published. Arghamanyan studied with Badura-Skoda in Vienna for a year after winning the Herbert von Karajan Scholarship.  The fugue at the end of the work hearkened to the regal and driving energy of a Bach fugue, interspersed with forays back into the pensive depths of Beethoven executed with rare lucidity and stirring passion. 

Arghamanyan's beautiful singing tone throughout was marred only by a tinny sound in some of the top notes of the new Steinway grand piano which was also receiving its debut to Kansas City audiences that night.  In a brief interview before the concert during the complimentary hors d'oeuvres and wine pre-concert reception, Siebert explained that the new instrument had only been previously played this summer at the Santa Fe Festival, and was not the same instrument heard last week on stage accompanying the Stefan Jackiw violin recital, also being auditioned for purchase from the Steinway Company.  That mechanical problem was apparently successfully solved by tuning performed upon it during intermission, because those sounds did not discolor the remainder of the recital.  

Following intermission, Schumann's Humoreske in B-flat Major, Op. 20 began with the longing tones of the pensive opening mood, evoked with exquisite lyrical transparency.  The work, composed in five main sections, showcased Arghamanyan's formidable technical prowess and mature interpretive genius in her realization of its many sudden contrasting moods.

Arghamanyan concluded the program by going straight into Chopin's Polonaise-fantaisie in A-flat Major, Op. 61, with its opening mystical chords followed by transcendental arpeggios that serenely set the tone for the ravishingly passionate interpretation of Chopin's inward journey that followed.  No note played was just a note for Arghamanyan - every single one sang within the sublime nuance of her superbly evoked musical lines or disappeared into the underlying undulations of accompaniment.   

The evening ended with an encore piece that tied together subliminally all the works of the program, the adagio movement from Bach's Keyboard Concerto in D minor, BWV 974, a transcription of Alessandro Marcello's Oboe Concerto in D minor.  The long and hauntingly pensive melody was played with a ravishing perfection of timing that revealed layer upon layer of exquisite beauty. 

REVIEW:
The Friends of Chamber Music
Nareh Arghamanyan, piano
Friday, October 2, 2009
Folly Theatre
300 West 12^th Street, Kansas City MO
For tickets call 816.561.9999 or online www.chambermusic.org

By Gayle G. Hathorne

Classical and Vocal Contributor (Past writer)