Pianist Paul Smith Feb. 16

THIRTY-THREE PLUS VARIATIONS AND AN OCEAN VIEW

In my career of reviewing hundreds of piano recitals, and personally producing more than 80, all have used grand pianos. Except one, Paul Smith’s commanding concert March 16 in Marin’s Muir Beach’s Community Center that had an upright instrument on tiny stage overlooking ocean.

However, it was a good piano, the largest of its type (52” high) with the inherent flaws of thumpy bass, lazy damper application and restrictive action repetition. On balance, it was in tune and the artist needed everything working for his transversal of just one work, Beethoven’s mighty Diabelli Variations, Op. 120.

Mr. Smith, long associated with the College of Marin, started playing 25 minutes late as he seemed to know and cordially greet each of the 35 attendees, old friends perhaps that might not have gone west over the demanding Highway 1 hill road Mar. 16 and 17 to hear additional duplicate programs of the 1823 work in San Rafael.

Over 39 minutes, with some repeats omitted, the pianist fashioned a convincing performance of the piece, beginning with a bouncing reading of the banal theme. Fast variations were played fast, if not fleet, underscored by the constant character and tempo contrasts that are at the core of the work.

Highlights of the performance were, through the continual C Major key, continual alteration of mood and keyboard attack that diminished the feeling that it was a long labor to conclude, with piquant harmonies but no modulations. Quite the contrary, Mr. Smith’s virtuosity and obvious dedication to nuances and structural relationships in the music were compelling. The spotlight was on the creativity of the composer, a sterling pianistic achievement in this form that Mr. Smith clearly has mastered.

Prior to the evening’s pièce de resistance Mr. Smith presented witty and cogent remarks on Beethoven’s creative compositional process in Vienna, and in a program innovation performed several of the original waltzes commissioned by the publisher Diabelli, works by Moscheles, Hummel, W. A. Mozart (Jr.), Schubert, Liszt, Kalkbrenner and Czerny. Playing from score as he did all evening, Mr. Smith enjoyed illustrating with anecdote the snippets, most just 40 bars long.

For an additional Diabelli treat, the artist commissioned four local composers (Jules Langert, Ron Fein, Mark Volkert and Tara Flandreau) to contribute musical thoughts on the venerable theme, and played each with elan and what must have been curiosity on how often tenuous connections unfolded. All had no associations with their siblings, which was wonderful. Mr. Fein’s pastiche melded lyrical fragments and an abrupt ending, so different from Mr. Volkert’s slow-tempo work, sforzandos over held notes and left-hand rumbles, and Ms. Flandreau’s music of minimalist character.

Mr. Volkert and Ms. Flandreau attended, and received applause that was only surpassed by that given to Mr. Smith.