Phillip Dyson, Piano – Moonlight Sonata (5/3/14)

Sonata in E flat Major, k.282; Adagio, Menuetto 1 & 2, Allegro; Mozart
Papillons, Op. 2; Schumann
Rhapsody, Op. 79, No. 2; Brahms
Clair de Lune; Debussy
Prelude in G minor, Op. 23, No. 5; Rachmaninov
Waltz in C sharp minor, Op. 64, No. 2; Chopin
Consolation No. 3 in D flat Major; Liszt
Waltz in A flat Major, Op. 69, No. 1 ‘L’adieu’; Fantaisie-Impromptu, Op. 66; Chopin
‘Moonlight’ Sonata, Op. 27, No. 2; Adagio, Allegretto, Presto; Beethoven

This concert could almost be called Classics Lite, in that most of the pieces are very familiar to audiences—maybe not by their titles, but definitely by the recognizable tunes and phrases within larger pieces. Do an internet search on any of them and you’ll most likely see what I mean. Playing entirely from memory, there may have been a few minor lapses, but the overall playing and performance was quite impressive. Both the Mozart and Schumann pieces were written at early ages (18 and 21, respectively), and the youthful qualities showed, though not in a bad way.
Mr. Dyson spoke to us from the stage and recounted that the Schumann was twelve short movements. To me, they seemed more like vignettes than movements.

Clair de Lune is actually the third movement of a larger work, Suite Bergamasque, by Debussy but it’s often played as a stand-alone piece, as it was here. In the Rachmaninov Prelude (written first, even though it’s No. 5—oh, those wacky composers and publishers!), Mr. Dyson showed a very good control of dynamics. In fact, at one point I was thinking, “That’s really too loud,” until the controlled playing made me realize what he was doing.

After intermission, or the interval as Mr. Dyson referred to it, we were treated to Chopin and Liszt. As a side note, Mr. Dyson had a costume change for the second half—a dark suit as opposed to his fawn-colored one for the first, including a change of socks and shoes (I don’t know about undergarments).

While he obviously knows his way around a keyboard, I found some of his phrasings in both Chopin and Liszt to be just the slightest bit mannered. I’m guessing that it is a stylistic choice, still it somewhat interrupted the flow, to my ears. The Liszt is special for me, as it was played at a memorial service I attended about six years ago. It moved me then and it moved me now. The third Chopin piece is what I call the “Always Chasing Rainbows” Fantaisie.

‘Moonlight’ Sonata is not a name that Beethoven ever gave to the work; that only came about five years after his death. While the first movement is monumentally famous, the other two movements are also quite beautiful and technically fiery, and the whole sonata was beautifully played here. Mr. Dyson gave us an encore of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. One of the sections was reminiscent of honky-tonk–style jazz. It certainly underscored why he has been invited to the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival. As I said, he really knows his way around a keyboard.

ConcertMeister