Margarita Shevchenko.By Greg Stepanich
Margarita Shevchenko’s program at the Steinway Gallery in Boca Raton on Saturday night was as core-Romantic as it could get, with much-loved music by Brahms and Chopin making up the bill of fare.
But while these works were twice- and thrice-familiar, the Russian-born resident of North Miami Beach brought a deep, mature vision to the music that enhanced and restored its classic status. By that I don’t mean that she aped the renditions of pianists of bygone generations; simply that the interpretive weight she gave the pieces reminded us why we cherish them.
Shevchenko opened with the seven pieces of Johannes Brahms’s Fantasien (Op. 116), music written in 1892, at the end of the composer’s career. But there isn’t a lot of Brahms’ more familiar late manner in these pieces. There is, rather, plenty of youthful vigor here, and a slightly less cluttered keyboard texture that helps the ideas speak more clearly.
In other words, it’s music that’s tough to play and intensely serious, and in the three Capriccios (Nos. 1, 3 and 7), Shevchenko played with plenty of fire and muscle. In the contrasting section of the second Capriccio, she demonstrated one of her best qualities: Big, beautiful singing tone. That same attribute was evident in the Intermezzo (No. 4 in E) that followed, the most widely known piece of the set, primarily for its lovely main theme.
In the E minor Intermezzo (No. 5), Shevchenko pedaled through the rests, creating a very interesting, unusual texture in which the inner voices murmured and blurred in a stagnant, bitter atmosphere. She kept up the prophetic approach in the next Intermezzo (No. 6 in E), emphasizing its slippery chromaticism, then swept it away with a fierce reading of the final Capriccio (No. 7 in D minor), tearing into it with virtually no break from No. 6.
The music of Chopin took up the rest of the recital, all of it relatively late music as well, beginning with one of his finest works, the Polonaise-Fantaisie (Op. 61) of 1846. This is a most difficult piece to bring off because its episodic nature can make it sound choppy and incoherent. But Shevchenko is a musician who knows how to maintain a narrative line, so that the music had its mood-shifting fantasy element without losing sight of the polonaise hovering in the background.
One reason she was able to do this was the fresh color she brought to the various iterations of the main theme; the vividness of each new framework helped the listener hear it again, and retain it as it made its way through the rest of the piece. It would have been even better with a somewhat crisper sense of rhythm in the polonaise sections, but overall this was a beautiful traversal of this work. In addition, her closing pages, with their treacherous sliding chords and pounding octaves in the left hand, were admirably clear. Many are the pianists who will make a hash of the last couple pages, but not Shevchenko, who carried them off well.
The Barcarolle (in F-sharp, Op. 60), also from Chopin’s final period, benefited from Shevchenko’s tone production in particular, and her performance in general had the right feel of exuberant Romanticism, as a simple Italianate gondolier ballad blossoms immediately into a huge statement, rich with thirds and sixths. Although the Barcarolle is less complex than the Polonaise-Fantaisie, it has the same kind of nearly overwrought ending, which Shevchenko also handled just as ably, with a precisely drilled tumble to a low F-sharp at the every end.
The recital ended with the so-called Heroic Polonaise (in A-flat, Op. 53). Shevchenko’s interpretation was quite straightforward, and technically excellent, with good octaves in the E major cavalry charge in the middle. The second subject needed some more dynamic contrast and a shorter, bouncier rhythmic approach, as did the middle section, in which the theme was a little too soft and not crisp enough to make it stand out as well as it should have.
Still, in general this performance had all the force and swagger it needed to make a vigorous impression, and the smallish house at the gallery rose to its feet at its triumphant ending.
Shevchenko played more Chopin for the encore: the famous Grand Valse Brillante (in E-flat, Op. 18). Aside from the second strain, whose repeated notes were not all there the first time around, Shevchenko tossed this work off expertly, with a swift tempo and fine finger work, especially in the glittering figurations in the final pages.
After a concert of large-boned, thickly scored pieces, it was a pleasure to hear this more playful side of Shevchenko’s art, and like the rest of her efforts Saturday night, it had an adult polish to it that reflected the work of an artist who knows the music she’s presenting and knows exactly what she wants to say.
The Piano Lovers series continues Saturday, July 9, with a return appearance by the Venezuelan-born pianist Vanessa Perez. Her program will include works by Chopin and Mozart, as well as music by Spanish composers. The concert is set for 7 p.m. at the Boca Steinway Gallery. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Call 929-6633 or visit www.pianolovers.org.