SA Symphony with pianist Stewart Goodyear
Quicksilver agility, golden touch in Grieg
January 30, 2010Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto, as overexposed a Romantic-era staple as any piece in the repertoire, sounded remarkably fresh in pianist Stewart Goodyear’s agile, trim and intelligent account, Jan. 29 with the San Antonio Symphony.
Guest conductor Scott Yoo, in his second appearance with the orchestra, led the proceedings, which opened with American composer Irving Fine’s sinuously lyrical “Serious Song” for strings and closed with Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7.
Goodyear, in his San Antonio début, proved to be an extraordinary musician in every respect -- and an alchemist, too. The orchestra’s Steinway, which had sounded tired and in need of technical refurbishment last fall, sprang back to life, bright, shiny and clear as a bell, under Goodyear’s hands. His biography held a clue to the reason: Among Goodyear’s teachers was Leon Fleisher, another pianist with a conjurer’s touch.
Clarity was the hallmark of Goodyear’s playing. His rhythms were always incisive, both in detail and in the large, and this concerto’s abundant brilliant passages were rendered in high definition. It helps, of course, if you’ve cornered the world market in digital facility, as Goodyear apparently has, but his performance never seemed flashy. There was ample depth (along with more than the requisite stamina) in the first movement’s cadenza, and poetry in the adagio, and thoughtful flexibility -- without hyperromantic distentions -- throughout.
Goodyear rewarded the audience’s ecstatic ovation with a solo encore of his own composition titled “August,” a gentle ballad at its core, but fitted with a raiment of intricate filigree that seemed equally influenced by Franz Liszt and Oscar Peterson.
In his previous appearance with this orchestra, just over a year ago, Yoo had it all. This time, he had some of it. He conducted the entire program from memory and was fully in control of the orchestra -- I’ve never seen a left hand deliver so many cues. He got a full, rich sound from the orchestra’s strings and taut ensemble all around. But, apart from his buoyant rendering of scherzo of the Dvorak symphony, the warmth and sense of line that had characterized his previous appearance were lost amid a mass of details this time out. His performances were crisply drafted, but emotionally constrained.
Mike
Greenberg
