Music Reviews : Jeffrey Siegel Tells Love Story at Pepperdine

In the realm of academia, musical scholarship too often fails to serve its art; yet few performers possess the ability to communicate verbal insights in a recital setting.

Pianist Jeffrey Siegel deserves a special measure of gratitude then, for his pianistic eloquence is matched with a gift for commentary that brings his audience wholly into the interpretive experience.

His program Sunday at Smothers Theatre at Pepperdine University in Malibu consisted of pieces by Clara and Robert Schumann from the years 1836-1840; compositions inspired primarily by her father’s continual efforts to thwart their intended marriage.

The major work, Robert’s monumental Fantasy in C, Opus 17, was evidently receiving its local premiere in a new version--the finale’s original coda discovered only 10 years ago.

This ending recalls the quote from Beethoven’s “An die ferne Geliebte” (To the Distant Beloved), first heard at the close of the first movement. By his own admission and demonstration, Siegel revealed that Schumann’s first thoughts on the matter are by no means more beautiful than the familiar closing. But heard in the context of a complete performance, the harmonically seraphic requote lends the entire work an expressive unity heretofore unexperienced.

Still, the afternoon would have remained merely educational if not for the extraordinary pianism Siegel unleashed: fortissimos so bereft of clang and clatter that the Steinway’s colors seemed orchestral, balanced by an introspective lyricism of bel-canto quality. The roller-coaster virtuosity of the second movement March emerged stunningly, if not note-perfect. Yet the most lasting impression of his playing remains the endlessly subtle gradation of dynamics, regardless of pianistic texture.

Aside from verbal exposition, the first half of the program featured Clara’s Mazurka in G, Opus 6, No. 5, Romance in G minor, Opus 11, No. 2, and Robert’s Novellete in D, Opus 21, No. 2.