Watts an Oasis of Calm Amid the Storm

COSTA MESA —  Pianist Andre Watts began his recital Monday night at the Orange County Performing Arts Center by creating a haven of intellect and calm, even as latecomers trickled in from the storm that was pounding outside.

He opened with delicate, controlled performances of Mozart’s Rondos in D, K. 485, and in A minor, K. 511, woven with rich dynamic gradations. Schubert’s Drei Klavierstucke, D. 946, followed, with the centerpiece receiving tender, lyrical attention.

Gentle coloration illuminated “Old and Lost Rivers,” by Tobias Picker, as Watts quietly explored this pretty little mood piece, one of four works intended to conjure up watery scenes on a program that had been planned well before El Nino’s latest outburst.

Watts’ larger-than-life technical ability was much in evidence. There was plenty of reveling in colorful cascades as in “Les jeux d’eau a la Villa d’Este” by Liszt and in Debussy’s “L’isle joyeuse.” It seemed less overpowering than in the pianist’s youthful years, less likely to ride roughshod over musical interpretation than to be reigned in to serve mature consideration.

Chopin’s Ballade in F, Opus 38 bristled with pyrotechnic electricity and also stood out because of Watts’ unique approach to voicing. In the course of the evening, he missed notes occasionally but always communicated a poetic connection to the score.

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In that effort, Watts took great rhythmic liberties with Romantic works on the agenda. In “La lugubre gondola” No. 2 by Liszt, such license lent an improvisational feel to the elegy, augmenting its sense of mystery. But his exaggerated pauses and freely construed rhythms managed only to fragment and caricature Chopin’s Fantasie in F minor.

As the single encore, Watts played “Jardins sous la pluie” (Gardens in the Rain), from “Estampes,” by Debussy, producing a wash of shimmering droplets before sending his audience back out into the downpour.