LERA’S IRON-MAN FEAT WITH “LABYRINTH” ON PIANO
Like a whirlwind out of the East, Lera Auerbach blew into San Francisco and took away many a breath with her piano recital. This was one of the most forceful, demonic outpourings of sheer energy since the millennium.
The 44-year-old pianist-composer from the Russian-Siberian border area is a mystic, a poet, a formidable powerhouse-pianist and a composer. She introduced her own absolutely unique world premiere piece, “Labyrinth,” and preceded it with Mussorgsky’ “Pictures at an Exhibition.”
If “Pictures” is a technical challenge comparable to scaling Mt. Denali, her “Labyrinth” is like scaling Mt. Everest, without so much as a stop to pitch a tent. It goes nonstop for 49 minutes in what I’m tempted to call a dazzling 12-finger exercise. Like her Russian stylistic predecessor Scriabin, her music is tonal and generally consonant. But where Scriabin is often ethereal, she is much more fiery, with technique to burn (and only a few wrong notes scattered along the way).
When the pace does simmer down to a one-finger exercise, she waxes poetic, looking off into space with cherubic countenance, as if composing a quatrain. That’s not show-biz, that’s simply Lera. She has written books of poetry, composed two operas and read voluminously, including the late Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges. Borges’ “Book of Imaginary Things” provided most of the strange beings and places in “Labyrinth.” But, as Auerbach is quick to point out, those enigmas won’t help much in deciphering her 12-part work here, especially since most sections run into one another without pauses. And for her, Labyrinth is a metaphor for many things: life, time, being, identity.
But echoing Mussorgosky’s “Pictures,” Auerebach has a recurrent walking theme. Her “Traumwanderer” (Dream Wanderer) refrain recurs frequently, much like the gallery-walker in “Pictures.” So the two works are linked, albeit obliquely.
Her Mussorgsky was equally effective in a forceful way. However at the Herbst Theatre recital, the piano’s sound was quite brittle, going into overdrive—perhaps due to the voicing of the grand piano.
At the end, wearing one of her favorite kaftans, she astonished her newfound West Coast fans by playing four (!) encores: The Scriabin Prelude No. 2, Op. 11; an excerpt from “Pictures” (Unhatched Chickens), and two Scarlatti sonatas. Quite a night!
MUSIC NOTES—Ruth Felt, in whose honor the “Labyrinth” commission was made by SFP, founded S.F. Performances in 1979 and ran it with distinction for 36 years. She was in attendance—low-key and retiring, as ever. I hope they don’t force Ms. Felt try to play it in the bargain!….Contrary to what your instinct may instruct, the Russian name Lera is not related to our Laura. Rather, it is a diminutive of Valeriya (Valerie).
Lera Auerbach, Piano, in recital at Herbst Theatre, S.F., under auspices of S.F. Performances, March 27. For SFP info: (415) 392-2545, or go online.
