Recital
Albertina Dalla Chiara, piano
Works by Schumann, Chopin, Skryabin
Manoel Theatre

There already was a revolutionary touch in the opening Variations on a Theme of Robert Schumann, in F sharp minor, Op. 20 penned by his wife Clara. Not in the style and form, of course, but the very fact that Clara Schumann, rare for the time, “dared” publish her work very openly.

Of course, who knows how many of her pieces she performed as encores during her brilliant concert career? In life and in death Clara continued paying tribute to her husband, as this set of variations does in its very core.

The pianist performed it with a depth of feeling in a smooth flow, with an elegant touch while not forgetting to emphasise frequent energetic contrasts between one variation and another.

Listening to Dalla Chiara’s rendering of the piece reminds one with regret that because of the composer’s commitments as wife, mother and concert pianist, she had little time to devote to composition.

The pianist remained in the world of the Schumanns, this time performing Robert’s early Fantasiestücke, Op. 12. Schumann, at the time besotted with Clara and in a seemingly-hopeless courtship of her, delved deep into a fantasy world of high romantic fervour. The contrasting moods, among others, of exuberance and gloom, hope and disappointment, languid wonder and fearful nightmares alternate all the time, and each and every piece was very well-etched. Each came across akin to a compact pictorial description and equally treated with great care. Finally, after all the ups and downs it ended on a rather gloriously-epic note.

A final nod to the Romantic period was provided by resorting to a highly-respected and revered contemporary: Chopin. This was through one of the many mazurkas Chopin wrote, namely the No. 4 in B minor, Op. 33. Because of its rondo form, the very attractive main melody recurs several times. Other melodies appeared in-between, but the main melody returned like an old friend deserving a warm welcome.

Dalla Chiara devoted the rest of her recital to Skryabin, who died a century ago. The completely-new sound world came almost as a shock to ears attuned to the previously performed pieces. Here was something very challenging, exciting and serving as a sort of clarion call to expand and stretch limits.

The tribute the pianist paid to this composer rests a lot on insight into Skryabin’s world, no doubt finely honed through her long years of study in Russia.

The Sonata No. 2 in G sharp minor, Op. 19, in two highly-contrasting movements (andante–presto), reveals earlier Romantic influences but speaks in his own language with a touch of Romanticism.

More comfortably called a sonata-fantasy, the work unfolded brilliantly. The pianist’s resources coped well with the sonata, demanding from the technical point of view.

The mainly-lyric and serene andante was followed by a convincingly stormy, fast, energetic yet ever-articulate presto. Germs of future typically-ingenious characteristics which marked Skryabin’s fully-mature style surface here and there in Op. 19. It was certainly heard even more in the later Preludes of Op. 74 which with Vers la flamme, a poème pour piano Op. 72, concluded the recital.

In these “testamentary” pieces the pianist clearly demonstrated a steady progress along the path of atonality, dissonance, fiery, sweeping thematic material and an air of the exotic and mystical. Too bad cancer cut short Skryabin’s life all too soon.