University of Virginia Library

Pianist Finishes Series,
Plays Three Encores

By Teri Towe
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Leonard Pennario, whose recital
in University Hall on Wednesday
evening was the last event in the
1970-71 Artist Series, is one e-the
most generally underrated concert
pianists before the American
public. The low esteem in which he
is held by many music lovers is, I
think, largely the result of his
frequent performances of
semi-classical and light classical
piano music, including some theatre
and movie scores, and his apparent
refusal to play atonal, aleatory, and
serial music. However, amongst
performing musicians and critics, he
is highly regarded, as is indicated by
the many times that he has
participated in the legendary
Heifetz-Platigorsky Concerts, and
by the critical acclaim with which
the recordings he has made with
Heifetz and Platigorsky have been
received.

His program on Wednesday was
well balanced and extremely
demanding, both interpretatively
and technically; the musical snobs
will be disappointed to learn that
Mr. Pennario played no warhorses.
The recital opened with rather
ascetic performances of four
Mazurkas by Chopin. He rather
strict tempi and the avoidance of
extreme rubato called to mind the
Chopin recordings of Ferrucio
Busoni, but Mr. Pennario, while he
has superb dynamic control, is
nowhere near the colorist that
Busoni was.

Mr. Pennario's extraordinarily
prodigious technique and his
amazing control became apparent
in his performance of Liszt's Les
Funerailles. The drama and tension
of the work, which many pianists
cannot control, were subtly but
effectively stated, but it was the
strength and technical accuracy
with which the fortissimo passages
were carried off that was the most
remarkable aspect of the
performance.

The first half of the program
concluded with the Schubert A
Major Sonata, Op. Posth., in which
Mr. Pennario showed his
capabilities as a colorist,
particularly in the Andantino, but,
especially in the last movement, the
tempi seemed to be a bit rushed.
Like Artur Schnabel, who was the
master interpreter of the Schubert
Sonatas, Mr. Pennario has a
tendency to overpedal.

The second half of the recital,
devoted to 20th century French
piano music, opened with
Debussy's Pour le Piano, which
received a performance that was
both sonorous and tonally brilliant.
Next came Francis Poulenes
Mouvements Perpetucis, the
interpretation of which seemed in
perfect agreement with the
bittersweet character of the music.
The recital concluded with a
performance of Maurice Ravel's
piano transcription of his orchestral
tone poem La Vaise, but he
achieved his effects through
understatement, an approach to the
score that is much in keeping with
Ravel's personality and the
character of his music.

There were three encores -
Scarlatti's "Cortege" Sonata, which
received a pleasant, salon style
performance; Mr. Pennario's own
Midnight on the Cliffs, a brilliant
and extremely difficult
composition which would have
greatly pleased Dmitri Tiomkin, the
foremost composer of movie music
in the 1930's; and Schumann's well
known Traumerel.