Providence Journal, RI
Sept 15 2005
Pianist hopes to pick up the tempo for recitals
BY CHANNING GRAY
Journal Arts Writer
There was a time when the great pianists of the day came through this
area to play solo recitals, artists such as Arthur Rubinstein, Rudolf
Serkin, Sviatoslav Richter and Claudio Arrau.
But that has all changed. Outside of major cultural hubs, the piano
recital is all but dead. Presenters can no longer make money on them,
and classical audiences with limited entertainment dollars tend to
seek out showier fare, such as symphony orchestra concerts.
That at least is the opinion of Jon Nakamatsu, who hopes to change
all that. The Van Cliburn Competition laureate will appear Sunday
afternoon at Rhode Island College as part of a new series designed to
revive the piano recital.
The concert is sponsored by the Adams Foundation, a family-owned
foundation in Santa Barbara, Calif., that hopes to bring live music
at affordable prices to smaller venues.
The foundation is trying to rebuild audiences in out-of-the-way
places such as Bozeman, Montana, and yes, Providence, Rhode Island.
Rhode Island College has signed on for two concerts this season. If
those go well, the plan is to add more concerts in the future.
Besides Nakamatsu, twin brothers Richard and John Contiguglia will
visit the RIC campus in January. Their program contains, among other
offerings, Liszt’s arrangement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Dwindling bookings
Piano recitals have become such a rarity that Nakamatsu has watched
his bookings dwindle even since joining the Adams recital program.
Five years ago, he said, the bulk of his dates were for solo
concerts. Now he plays more with orchestras. Chamber music is a close
third.
But Nakumatsu said he loves a challenge.
“My manager knew it would suit me. I love trying to bring people into
the hall.”
Nakamatsu pretty much plays his recitals straight, without telling
stories, explaining the music or otherwise trying to make the
atmosphere more informal. He does plan to say a few words Sunday
about Armenian composer Loris Tjeknavorian, just because he is
unusual and unknown.
But the rest of his program he’ll play without comment.
“This is not theater,” he said. “It’s a concert where you’re
communicating through the music. Talking kind of defeats what I’m
trying to do.”
Nakamatsu said he tries to design his recitals to have an emotional
thread to them, a musical ebb and flow that takes listeners on a
journey. Ideally, programs provide a mix of new and familiar music,
or sometimes unknown works by familiar composers.
Sunday he will end his concert with a Liszt group that includes the
almost-never-played Impromptu for Princess Gortschakoff. The rest of
the program contains a set of Scarlatti Sonatas, the seldom-heard
Corelli Variations of Rachmaninoff, and two works by Chopin,
including the Third Scherzo. Then there are the Tjeknavorian pieces
and the Liszt, which ends with a final blockbuster, the composer’s
Mephisto Waltz.
Who shows up at his recitals sort of depends on the venue. At
colleges, he tends to get a lot of young people. But that doesn’t
hold true in other sites.
Something different
Nakamatsu, who just turned 37, won the Van Cliburn Competition in
1997, becoming only the third American to do so. He said his life
changed overnight. He was able to give up a teaching job and head out
on the road to perform.
Nakamatsu, who is based in San Francisco, has several CDs out on the
Harmonia Mundi label, with two in the works — a Liszt album and a
recording of the two Brahms clarinet sonatas.
These days, he spends about 75 to 80 percent of his time on the road.
That, he said, is one reason he is not married.
“The career is going well. It’s one I’m happy about.”
Jon Nakamatsu performs Sunday at 2:30 in Sapinsley Hall in the
Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts on the Rhode Island College
campus, 600 Mount Pleasant Ave., Providence. Call (401) 456-8144.