Frank Wiens, a true Poet of the Piano, gave a recital of high energy and great beauty this afternoon at the home of Lyn and Renée Bronson in the Carmel highlands. Mr. Wiens is a pianist who makes music, not someone who just plays the piano. His playing is both technically perfect and musically thrilling.
He opened his recital with Mozart’s Adagio in B Minor, K. 540 and showed that he can create great drama and is not afraid to express the humanity of Mozart. This was no “Dresden doll” approach, but rather was a full-bodied intensely emotional Mozart. By judiciously giving a great deal of pedal to the melodic line, Wiens created a warmth of tone that was inviting and compelling – and always clear and clean.
In introducing the next piece, Haydn’s Fantasy in C Major, Hob. XVII/4, Wiens said that “…while the first piece was Mozart at his most serious, this piece is Haydn at his happiest, and joyousness fills this piece.” And indeed it did. This Fantasy is a sprightly, overtly happy little piece that at times reminded me of the twittering of happy birds. A bit slower tempo at the beginning might have made for a bit more clarity but the pianist very soon found his groove.
It was in the third section of the recital that Wiens, I feel, sounded the best. He played two selections by Chopin-Nocturne in D-Flat, Op. 27, No. 2 and the Third Scherzo (C-Sharp Minor, Op. 39). The former piece, with its floating melody like Saint Saens’ The Swan, was magical. And the scherzo’s cascading notes were like mini waterfalls. Wiens created long lines that made the notes coalesce into coherent and cogent musical statements.
This was followed by a delightful piece by Kodaly, Dances of Marosszek. It could have easily been labeled as Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 21! Witty, charming, with a very 20th century sensibility, it leads to a dramatic and Lisztian climax at its conclusion.
The second half of the program was dedicated to Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor. At almost one half hour in length, it is easy to make this piece an episodic and formless fantasy-like piece. Wiens managed to convey its inner structure and present it as what it really is – a sonata in form and intent. For encores he played the B Major Nocturne, Op. 62, No. 1 by Chopin and the B Minor Prelude from Opus 32 by Rachmaninoff. Both were played magnificently.
Frank Wiens plays the piano as though it were an orchestra – he makes the piano sing gloriously and roar when he wants it to, and always he plays with impeccable taste and musicality. Bravo!
End
Holland Garcia, a pianist, composer and teacher, is a frequent contributor to Peninsula Reviews.
