MUSIC REVIEW : PIANIST PONTI IN PASADENA RECITAL

Dazzling virtuosity combined with a willful emotional detachment make Michael Ponti’s playing provocative. The German-born, internationally active veteran pianist provoked several responses in his third annual Ambassador Auditorium recital Tuesday night.

He inspires admiration of the deepest sort for flying all over the keyboard while producing a hooded, deflected tone. He earns unreserved praise for the endurance, stamina, power and accuracy of his playing of Liszt. He curries favor among connoisseurs for his spontaneity and rubato in Chopin, his lightness in Scarlatti, his forthrightness in Brahms.

Yet one can still come away from a Ponti performance, as some did Tuesday, feeling a little let down. He does not mesmerize, or cajole, or seduce his audience; on a scale of 1 to 5, his charismatic powers rate a modest 2. Musical he is. Magnetic he is not.

That said, one can rave about his success at making music while playing the piano. His performances of Liszt--the Fantasy and Fugue on B-A-C-H at the beginning of the program, the transcription of Wagner’s “Tannhaeuser” Overture at the end--had speed, thrust, articulation and conviction.

His playing of five sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti--the fifth one his first encore--produced marvels of delicacy and nuance. His reading of Brahms’ Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel achieved monumentality in the overall, exquisite detailing in every separate section.

Most effectively, Ponti’s Chopin group, consisting of the complementary Nocturnes (in C-sharp minor and D-flat major) of Opus 27 and the E-major Scherzo, sounded both improvisatory and sculptured, a feat of balanced stylishness few Chopin-players attain.

The second encore, after Scarlatti’s Sonata in E, was an etude for the left hand by Felix Blumenfeld.