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The Sydney Morning Herald
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Arts
All in her hands
Sylvia Torán
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Opera House Studio, June 6
by ROGER COVELL
It is not true that it took the example of foreigners as diverse as Rimsky-Korsakov and Debussy, Moszkowki and Lalo to show Spanish composers how to write unmistakably Spanish music.
It was just that Spanish inflections were so tempting and easy to copy (ast least superficially) that other European composers could not resist using them at a time when regional exoticism was all the rage.
At the same time, Spanish composers -as the visiting spanish pianist Sylvia Torán reminded us- were building an important repertory of recognisably and authentically Spanish music.Torán began her program with Albéniz's La Vega, in which the sonorities of the guitar are audible in company with gracefull and undulating melodic shapes and ended it with Manuel de Falla's ferociously brilliant and extended Fantasía Baética.In this piece, by any standards a masterpiece, Falla goes deep intoAndalusian traditions without pointing them even slightly towards the interests of the tourist bureau.
Torán was well equipped in technique and pianistic temperament for her task, using hands of unusually strong individuality. The left hand gripped chords in firm, sure pincer movements; the right laved the keyboard in subtly varied washes of figuration or effortless runs and flourishes.
She represented Xavier Montsalvatge, best known here for some charming songs, by his Sonatine Pour Ivette, in which the composer reversed the international traffic in idioms by capturing the spirit of Spanishry inParis, incidentally achieving a truly elegant virtuosity.
The Creole Dances of the Argentinian
composerAlberto Ginastera testified to the vast sweep of Spanish cultural influence, combining Hispanic accents with vivid representations of local dance rythms, arresting in their unfettered energy. In contrast, Granado's The Maiden and the Nightingale proffered melting lyricism within an aura of classical restraint.
Torán's performance of Chopin's Polonaise Fantasie, Opus 61, was impressive technically in its treatment of the multiple trills in this score and poetically in its ability to suggest abstracted images of grandeur and heroism. It proved that this accomplished artist coud range comvincingly well beyond her mastery of her Spanish heritage.