Pianist Frank Glazer

PIANISTIC PANACHE AT A RIPE OLD AGE

At last, an old fashioned pianist!

Eighty persons attended Frank Glazer’s recital July 1 which, to this perpetual piano student, was worth twenty piano lessons. Asked why he does not retire, Mr. Glazer pointed out he is beginning to like the sound he creates on his instrument, and he is now 95.

About the only negative part of the long concert was the less than sterling the quality of the house piano at Mill Valley’s United Methodist Church. The lower and middle register needed substantial voicing while the upper register remained gorgeous. But more on this later.

Mr. Glazer began with Bach’s Toccata in E minor. It was performed without undue drama, and starts with a written out improvisation as an introduction. A double subject fughetta is its second movement. The third section is also a written out improvisation including tremolos and various arpeggios wandering around the harmonic landscape. Finally, a three-voice fugue concludes this work. While there were a few missed notes, what was interesting is the longer Mr. Glazer played the more fluid and fluent he became, his sound more varied and colored.

The remainder of the first half was devoted to the four-movement Schubert Sonata in G major, Opus 78, D. 894. This is a symphony for piano and requires the utmost musicality as well as audience patience and intense listening skills. In the first movement, the Molto moderato e cantabile the right hand filigrees were exceptionally clear. It showed the quality of the instrument, and had it been properly voiced and regulated, as well as tuned, this concert would have bordered on the incredible. The treble carried well and was clear and brilliant when needed, but as the music descended into the middle and lower registers, Mr. Glazer needed to work harder to bring out these parts. The double notes in the fourth movement Allegretto were handled with great facility.

Following intermission, Mr. Glazer presented both of Chopin’s Op. 27 Nocturnes and the Polonaise in F-sharp minor, Opus 44. I felt more could have been made of these two immortal Nocturnes. For example, the C sharp Nocturne demonstrates the rare use of counterpoint by Chopin, but, in the F-sharp Polonaise, Mr. Glazer let fly with virtuosity and panache. You had to be there! It was extremely moving!

Schumann’s “Etudes En Forme de Variations,” Opus 13 (XII Etudes Symphoniques) provided the audience with the vision of Mr. Glazer’s fingers moving like well oiled pistons, but never with the harsh sound so common in many of today’s recitals. In fact, the preceding Polonaise provided the warm up for this virtuoso work. It is interesting to note these etudes were written about two years after the crippling of Schumann’s right fourth finger. All we know of Schumann’s piano style is what he wrote following this tragic incident in 1832.

The pianist, now a Maine resident, did not play any encores but was swamped by ardent admirerS following the program.