Michael Davidman - Summit Music Festival

[Donald Isler]

Michael Davidman, Pianist
Summit Music Festival
Thornwood, New York
July 31st, 2021

Mozart: Piano Sonata in F Major, K. 332

Granados: Goyescas, Op. 11 (Selections)
Los Requiebros (The Compliments)
Coloquio en la reja (Conversation at the Window)
El fandango de candil (Fandango by Candlelight)
Quejas, ó la maja y el ruiseñor (Complaint, or the Girl and the Nightingale)
El amor y la muerte: Balada (Ballad of Love and Death)

Saint-Saens: Étude en form de valse, Op. 52, No. 6

It may seem strange to say that I've enjoyed the concerts of a pianist for years when he's only 24. But it's true if I say that about Michael Davidman. I remember a thrilling performance of the Liszt E-Flat Concerto six years ago, when he won the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Concerto Competition. I've heard him give several recitals both before and since then. At that time he had studied with Efrem Briskin for ten years. Since then he has earned a Bachelor's degree from Curtis, where he studied with Robert McDonald, and a Master's from Juilliard, where he worked with Stephen Hough and Jerome Lowenthal. I find him to be one of the most exciting young pianists around.

He began with a Mozart Sonata, which featured more liberal use of pedal than one hears from other pianists. But it "worked." One might say that he plays this music with a Romantic sensibility, but without Romantic excess. The first movement was charming and elegant, with many subtle inflections. The second movement, taken at a tempo that flowed very nicely, was sensitive, expressive, and very individually played. Davidman tore into the last movement, but not too fast to miss bringing out details such as the syncopations and modulations.

Goyescas, by Granados, is a brilliant, exceedingly difficult, and wonderful work! Right from the beginning of "Los Requiebros" Davidman captured one's imagination with a balance of straight tempo, rubato, and enough colorization of the material to work some real "magic." Complicated though it is, he made it look easy. Much of Goyescas, while not really polyphonic, has melodies with other voices "answering" and commenting on them. All of this was made very clear to the ear.

"Coloquio en la reja" was slow, intense, and wistful. Davidman displayed here his ability to be expressive at a very low volume. There was a long, beautiful concluding section ending on a high, very soft B-Flat.

The Fandango was spirited, with a dignity almost bordering on arrogance, and it ended with great flair.

"Quejas, ó la maja y el ruiseñor," perhaps the best known of the Goyescas, was slow, sensuous, and gorgeous. Though it's sometimes forgotten, silence is also an expressive device in music, and Davidman showed that, during a long pause near the end of this piece, which also features very effective bird-like trills.

The concluding "El amor y la muerte: Balada", was, alternately dramatic, tumultuous, quiet, and nostalgic. One heard material from the previous pieces, and the soft, tragic end, in G Minor, had an air of inevitability.

Saint-Saens' Etude in the Form of a Waltz was played at staggering, Cortot-like tempi. Davidman tossed it off like a play thing, though not missing the charm that's also there. Executing the many arpeggios and chords (including the big D-Flat chords on the last page, which seem like a spoof of the Tchaikovsky Concerto - sped up as in a World War I era movie!) seemed to be no problem at all!

Michael Davidman played one encore, El Albaicín, from Book Three of Albeníz' Iberia. It was, in turn, delicate, spirited, and elegant.

Donald Isler

[Ricordanza]

Don, thanks for another great review.

I'm curious. Assuming that this was an in-person recital, not virtual, was the hall full? Were audience members separated from each other? Were masks required? Just wondering how different venues are handling these things.

[Donald Isler]

Thanks, Ricordanza!

No, the hall was not full, but there were no specific rules about seating. However, everyone except the performer was required to wear a mask.