Bach arr. Busoni
Chorale Prelude “Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ”, BWV639
Brahms
Piano Sonata No.3 in F minor, Op.5
Prokofiev
Piano Sonata No.9 in C, Op.103
Liszt
Valse de l’opera Faust – Concert Paraphrase from Gounod’s Faust
Tamara Anna Cislowska (piano)
Reviewed by: William Yeoman
Reviewed: 14 May, 2006
Venue: Octagon Theatre, University of Western Australia, Perth
The first in the Keyed Up! series of piano recitals at the University of Western Australia’s Octagon Theatre ( a small octagonal theatre seating around 450 patrons), this recital by gifted Australian pianist Tamara Anna Cislowska delivered an overwhelmingly Romantic evening, the odd man out being Prokofiev with his sleekly classical Ninth Piano Sonata.
Cislowska opened her recital with a spacious reading of the Bach/Busoni chorale prelude “Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ” before tackling Brahms’s expansive Third Piano Sonata. Here, Cislowsaka was at pains to bring out thematic equivalences at the expense of the long line; the result was nevertheless provocative in its articulate energy and lingering over the more sensuous moments in the Andante espressivo and Intermezzo.
Following the interval came Prokofiev’s unjustly neglected Ninth Piano Sonata from 1947; it received a crisp yet lyrical performance, Cislowska’s sometimes-too-generous rubato was here reigned in and the more analytical faculties given more room to range without swamping the expressive qualities of the writing. Then came Liszt’s unashamedly show-off Concert Paraphrase from “Faust”. Here Cislowska was in her element, her playing all flash and thunder, the audience responding with its own thunder in the form of tumultuous applause.
Two encores, Chopin’s Nocturne in C sharp minor (Op. posth.) and Moszkowski’s Etincelles (Sparks), a Horowitz favourite, rounded off the evening in fine style.