elizabeth MacDougall Accepts Standing-Room Only Applause

MACDOUGALL'S MAGICAL SCHUMANN IN UKIAH RECITAL

A composed and elegant Elizabeth MacDougall provided dramatic piano playing Nov. 1 to a capacity audience in Mendocino College’s Choral Room. Extra chairs were brought in, a rare event for a Ukiah piano recital, and the added attendees heard a sparkling recital of four formidable composers. Sponsored by Concerts Grand and the College’s Music Club, the afternoon’s program was carefully balanced and Ms. MacDougall was warmly greeted upon entering, the audience surely sprinkled with friends and students as well as piano aficionados.

The printed program was played entirely from score.

Bach's Prelude and Fugue in G Major from Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier was opening piece and heated the overflow audience quickly. The Preludium was a little hurried, Ms. MacDougall avoiding any rubato and concentrating on finger staccato. The Fugue was expressive, the two-voice countersubjects heard clearly.

Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestüke (Op. 12) was definitely the jewel of the afternoon, and the opening Des Abends was a wistful tribute to evening hours. Aufschwung certainly soared out of Ms. MacDougall's hands like an angry cat springing into the air. The bass line of triplets was never blurred, never hurried. Warum was played as a dreamy and inquisitive thought, and the artist passionately performed In Der Nacht where the sixteenth notes in the bass ran into darkness and she deftly manipulated multiple layers of melodic writing in the same hand. It was a bravura reading. The Traumes Wirren displayed a most a skilled right-hand rotation technique and chimera sound, and the concluding Ende vom Lied with sturdy chordal writing was upon us much too soon.

Prokofiev's Sonata No. 3 in B flat erupted wildly, the audience still in peaceful repose after the final section of the Schumann. The third theme was particularly explosive and another theme then made me think of running mice with its rhythmic energy.

Following intermission the pianist seemed in a hurry to get into the Beethoven’s B-flat Sonata, Opus 22. She strode through the double octaves with frightening precision in the Allegro. The Adagio was given a thoughtful interpretation but lacked expressiveness despite the molta espressione notation. The final Rondo was effective but at times rushed. The audience seems disappointed to be at the end of the recital and clamored for Ms. MacDougall to reappear.

One encore was offered, an abbreviated Chopin Waltz, Op. 64, No. 1. Though already short, the famous “Minute” Waltz became one of 30 seconds as the second theme (marked sostenuto) and recapitulation were not played. A strange omission in an otherwise sterling concert.