Perianes Returns with German-Spanish Program

Pianist Javier Perianes (photograph by Igor Studio, courtesy of San Francisco Performances)

Last night Spanish pianist Javier Perianes returned to Herbst Theatre for his second appearance as a soloist for San Francisco Performances. He devoted the first half of his previous recital to the music of Franz Schubert and shifted to the work of Spanish composers in the twentieth century (including those based in Paris) for the second half. Last night’s program had a similar division. This time the “Spanish second half” was devoted entirely to the Goyescas suite, the Opus 11 of Enrique Granados. The first half was an “extended family affair” involving the relationship of Johannes Brahms with Clara and Robert Schumann.

As the title suggests, Goyescas was inspired by the paintings of Francisco Goya. However, only one of the six movements carries the title of one of Goya’s works. “El amor y la muerte” (love and death) is the title of one of the prints in Los caprichos. Granados subsequently added an “appendix” to his suite, “El pelele” (the straw man), which is named after one of Goya’s paintings. Taken as a whole, Goyescas is a suite on a large scale, with each of the movements unfolding a narrative reflection on Spanish culture through an extended series of tempo changes. This was a major undertaking for Perianes, and he could not have been more convincing in presenting each of those narratives to his audience.

Since this was the second half of the program, he added a “punch line” by way on an encore. This was a much more familiar selection, the “Danza ritual del fuego” (ritual fire dance) from the one-act ballet “El amor brujo” (love, the sorcerer), whose music was composed by Manuel de Falla. The intensity of Perianes’ delivery put a welcome cap on the depth of the Spanish portion of his recital.

Each of the three composers in the first half was represented by a set of variations. Two of them were based on the same theme, taken from Robert Schumann’s Opus 99 collection entitled Bunte Blätter (colorful leaves). The program began with Clara’s Opus 20 set of variations and concluded with Brahms’ Opus 9 set. Robert’s variations were taken from the third movement of his Opus 14 piano sonata in F minor. For this set the theme was an Andantino movement that Clara had composed. The unfolding of all three of these compositions made for engaging listening. It is worth noting, however, that Robert called his Opus 14 sonata a “concerto without orchestra;” and this modestly engaging set of variations gives the listener a break from the overblown intensity of the other movements!

Taken as a whole, Perianes’ return was a welcome one. He knew how to bring just the right technical command to each of his selections, and his expressiveness was never overblown. He is a recitalist that has something to say, and what he has to say is definitely worthy of attention!