By David Beech

(Editor’s Note: Because of a scheduling conflict, I asked David Beech to review the following concert. Mr. Beech is a retired computer scientist who lives in Monterey. He is a clarinetist and occasional pianist. His mother was a pianist who brought him up to revere the playing of Solomon. Other great pianists that he has heard and admired over the years include Cortot, Myra Hess, Arrau, Katchen, Curzon, Brendel, Lupu, Ashkenazy, Cherkassky, and Perahia.)  

The Steinway Society of the Bay Area presented an exciting 2003 Young Artists Concert on Sunday evening, February 23, at Le Petit Trianon, San Jose. All four of the pianists were winners of Bay Area piano competitions – two for playing Beethoven, and two for playing Russian music – and this was somewhat reflected in their choice of repertoire for this program. All of the works were played faultlessly from memory and with impeccable technique, and yet each of the performers exhibited a different personality via the same instrument, a fine Steinway B that is more than capable of filling the recital-sized auditorium. 

Doreen Lee is from the Bay Area, and is currently a music major at UCLA. Her elegant arm and hand movements flowed into her interpretation of one of the lesser-known Chopin Impromptus, the F sharp major, Op. 36, and she followed this with Debussy’s Mouvements from Book I of Images, which had good momentum although lacking the last ounce of clarity.
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