Polusmiak Undeterred by Eyjafjallajökull Cancellation
Among those with flights canceled by the Icelandic volcano Ejyafjallajökull last week was tenor Mark Panuccio. Panuccio was scheduled to perform a recital
with pianist Sergei Polusmiak Sunday evening (April 25) at Northern Kentucky
University’s Greaves Hall, but got stranded in London by the ash cloud hanging over Europe.
Panuccio will stay a bit longer, having been hired during his unintentionally extended visit to sing Don Jose in Bizet’s “Carmen” with Opera Holland Park in London (until June 24, he says).
Undeterred, Polusmiak performed a solo recital instead, and a treat it was for the romantically inclined. On four days’ notice, the Ukrainian born artist put together a generous and delectable (one might even say steamy) program of Liszt, Chopin and Schumann.
The theme running through this program was love, from Petrarch and his unobtainable Laura – Liszt’s "Sonetto del Petrarca" No. 104 in E Major -- to Schumann addressing his beloved Clara in his Grand Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp Minor, “Florestan and Eusebius.” Liszt’s “Liebestraum” and “Izolden’s Liebestod,” transcribed by Liszt from Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde,” spoke of undying love and death by love, respectively, while Chopin’s Ballade No. 1 spoke beautifully for itself.
It was a “wow” program and an occasion to savor piano playing in the grand romantic tradition. There was no intermission either. Still, when Polusmiak, artist-in-residence at NKU, came to the lobby afterward to greet his listeners, there were no visible signs of fatigue.
To open, Polusmiak filled the hall with Liszt, drawing a big, perfumed sound from the Greaves Hall Steinway in the “Sonetto del Petrarca” No. 104, pausing only briefly before serving up a richly-voiced “Liebestraum." “Izolden’s Liebestod” got as big a rendering as it can from the piano, which, since it cannot sustain pitches the way a human voice and a full orchestra can, must utilize rapid repetitions of a chord to maintain its climactic force. Polusmiak, who studied with Regina Horowitz at Kharkiv Conservatory in Ukraine, did so to thunderous effect, and it was good to hear one of Liszt’s orchestral transcriptions pulled off so well.
The temperature had risen considerably in Greaves Hall as Polusmiak returned from a brief exit to the wings after the Liszt set and shifted gears into Chopin’s Ballade No. 1. Again, tone colors were vivid as he crafted brilliant peaks in this daunting, keyboard-spanning work (where, as with the Russian school of piano playing in general, spirit and emotion trumped pinpoint precision).
Schumann’s Grand Sonata, final work on the program, is an expression of the full-blown romantic spirit. Composed during the composer's courtship of Clara Wieck -- a struggle in which the pair had to overcome her father’s opposition all the way to court – it is filled with turbulence as well as tenderness. The subtitle “Florestan and Eusebius” refers to the aliases Schumann used as a journalist and the way he signed the manuscript of the Sonata to keep his identity unknown to Clara's father. (They also represent the polar opposites of Schumann’s personality.) Polusmiak transmitted these extremes in Technicolor tones. The Introduction conveyed drama and struggle -- Schumann as the impetuous Florestan -- while the gentle, song-without-words Aria personified the reflective Eusebius. The charming Scherzo carried the relative equanimity further, morphing finally into the heartfelt, assertive Intermezzo e finale.
As if to clear the air of love’s agony and ecstasy, Polusmiak encored with Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin’s pounding Basso Ostinato. One thought of that volcano in Iceland spewing out fire and ash. One thing was for certain: The Greaves Steinway will need a good tuning.