MUSIC REVIEW : Australian, American and Russian Pianists Compete

A second night of marathon piano-playing greeted the die-hard contest-lovers--and there are apparently many of them--at the Ivo Pogorelich International Solo Piano Competition at Ambassador Auditorium, Tuesday.

The event commenced at 6. The Pasadena hall lost some fans after the second of three recitals, around 10:15, and an even greater number at the subsequent intermission of Evgeny Zarafiants’ unique Bach/Rachmaninoff program.

Those who stayed heard some spiritual Bach chorales as filtered through Zarafiants’ imaginative transcriptions, plus Rachmaninoff’s all-too-mundane Second Sonata in its revised version. The audience filed out at a quarter past midnight.

Finalists Four, Five and Six--Michael Kieran Harvey, 32, from Australia; Edith Chen, 23, a native of Taiwan but a resident of the United States since 1980, and Zarafiants, 34, from Novosibirsk, Russia--proved individual and accomplished, with no lack of musical taste, good training and disciplined technique.

Harvey, an exuberant but controlled performer, has a lot more than that. Of the first six finalists he appears to command the strongest musical integrity, the most vivid palette of touches and a fervid intellectual curiosity.

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His unorthodox program offered Prokofieff’s Seventh Sonata, the Six Bagatelles of Beethoven’s Opus 126, Luciano Berio’s “Sequenza IV” (1965) and Carl Vine’s eclectic and knuckle-busting Sonata (1990). Intertwined, or spread out among these works--like irresistible musical kudzu--were the early Eight Preludes (1929) of Olivier Messiaen. They provided a lush and sensual background to works some people may consider arid.

The Australian pianist’s way with all this music was one of authority, abundant resources of tone, dynamics and nuance, and utter artistic conviction, which seemed to reach and touch the audience. His playing of Prokofieff’s Seventh Sonata, the fourth in a 25-hour period at the Pasadena showplace--was easily the most convincing, clearly focused and emotionally complete. Whether he wins this competition or not, he will be--indeed, already is--an important pianist.

Chen and Zarafiants achieved a lower level of performance intensity, but confirmed their high accomplishments.

Chen lavished upon two virtuoso sonatas--Prokofieff’s Sixth and Scriabin’s Third--admirable clarity and high-profile detailing, with nary a sign of strain or stress. Yet her affection for these pieces never proved compelling. And her inclusion of Robert Schumann’s merely pleasant Variations on a Theme by Clara Wieck, Opus 23, seemed superfluous.

Zarafiants may be the most erratic of the six pianists heard Monday and Tuesday. His technique is reliable but not broad, his approach to the keyboard often one-dimensional. Yet he is a thinker and one who seems to feel music deeply; he produced engaging, even touching, performances one moment, klutzy, bangey gospel-style sounds the next.

After finalists Seven and Eight played Wednesday night, the 13-member jury was to meet and choose the award winners, who will be announced at the gala competition finale tonight.