Carlos Martinez, Elizabeth Pope, and Saul Ibarra Ramos
Last night's recital was presented at Juilliard as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Music being awarded to Saul Ibarra Ramos for his achievements in the field of collaborative piano. Our experience in the field of collaborative piano is rather limited to the particular aspect in connection with the voice. German lieder are our bread and butter. It was for this reason that we dropped everything to hear this excellent recital.
Carrying the vocal part was the lovely soprano Elizabeth Pope whom we have enjoyed on prior occasions and who just so happens to be married to the pianist. We admit we are particularly interested in couples in this field with respect to how well they seem to pick up on each other's cues and also because we feel a concern for their future careers which can pull them in two separate directions or to two distant venues. Like everything else in life, there are pluses and minuses, rewards and risks
Let us focus now on the positives. The first half of the program featured Ms. Pope singing a selection of lieder in German, a song cycle in French, and an American song unknown to us. Of major interest was an 1832 setting by Franz Lachner of a text by Heinrich Heine that we immediately recognized as having been set by Robert Schumann in 1840 as part of his cycle Dichterliebe.
We are always surprised by the various interpretations different composers can give to the same text. Whereas Schumann's "Mein Traum" is rather engraved in our memory, we found interest in Lachner's setting which was new to us. Mr. Ibarra Ramos lent emphasis to the pulsing piano which made us think of the poet's pounding heart, whilst Ms. Pope affected a pianissimo dream like aspect which gradually built to a climax.
In a similar situation, Charles Ives set Heine's "Ich grolle nicht" while a student at Yale at the end of the 19th century. Lovers of lieder will of course recognize this lied as also belonging to Schumann's Dichterliebe and may recall the poet's rage and irony toward the woman who broke his heart. On the other hand, Ives (who probably never set another German text) portrayed the poet in a more wistful light, so well captured by our pianist and singer. We might add that Ms. Pope's soprano instrument has a bright clear tone and that her stage presence is inviting. In Liszt's "In Liebeslust" we liked the way she decorated the vocal line on the phrase "Ich liebe dich". (We might hope for a little more consistency in the final "ch" but that is a small matter and easily rectified.)
A cycle of songs by Francis Poulenc entitled Calligrammes carried us in a different direction and revealed more delights in Ms. Pope's vocal technique and the delicate balance between her vocal line and the piano. "L'Espionne" revealed strength in the lower register. "Mutation" revealed the grim colors of despair over WWII. "Vers le sud" had our two artists giving warmth and gentleness to the love song, as we might have expected. "Il pleut" offered some racing figures in the piano. "La grâce exilée" involved a mood of resignation whereas "Aussi bien que les cigales" came across as a firm lecture. The concluding "Voyage" conveyed a suspenseful and wistful mood.
The remainder of the program gives us less to address. Our knowledge of piano music extends to what we have learned to play--Beethoven's "Fur Elise" and some easy pieces by Chopin. The dense texture of Rachmaninoff's Etudes-tableaux, from which Mr. Ibarra Ramos played "Appasionato", rather overwhelmed us as it sounded like an orchestra. We liked the rapid figures in the upper register and the peaceful ending after all that passion!
The final work on the program was Violin Sonata No. 1 by Prokofiev in which our pianist's sensitivity toward the vocal line was directed now toward the excellent violinist Carlos Martinez. Our pianist gave an interesting brief talk about Prokofiev's energetic and unpretentious personality, explaining that this work was composed toward the end of his life when his health was compromised. The four movements alternated Andante with Allegro and it was a wild ride indeed between the two tempi.
Our knowledge of Prokofiev is confined to his programmatic score for the ballet Romeo and Juliet which is so filled with danceable rhythms and memorable melodies that we wind up humming for days afterward. This exposure to another side of the composer was surprising to say the least. It was a tour de force for Mr. Ibarra Ramos and also demonstrated some interesting techniques on the violin. What we heard as a glissando was really some legato bowing of a rapidly fingered scale passage.
An encore piece was played without a break. It was Prokofiev's arrangement of a Bach chorale and left us with a welcome feeling of peace after the tumultuous Sonata. Within our limited knowledge of most of the repertoire It seems to us that Mr. Ibarra Ramos has a gift for listening to his musical partners and responding. That gift should carry him a long way in his career
© meche kroop
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