Albert Dominguez Is Content to Keep His Career Close to Home

In the none-too-genteel Western Avenue area of Hollywood, the cascading sounds and robust rhythms of Manuel de Falla’s “Fantasia Betica” can be heard coming out of the back of a two-story orange-crate apartment complex.

Pianist Albert Dominguez is rehearsing for a concert in the Seal Beach Chamber Music Festival--ensconced behind a burglar-proof screen door.

It seems an unlikely--not to mention inhospitable--setting for a major artist.

“The neighbors let me know if they don’t like it,” Dominguez says. “They put on their rock, so I just close the door and put on the air conditioner. It’s OK most of the time before 10 p.m. But it’s a little frustrating--until I buy a house--if I get the urge to practice at 11 or 12 at night.”

Dominguez, 44, has lived in the apartment since 1971. He might not be buying a house soon. Despite frequent local performances and favorable reviews, he has yet to be admitted into that limited golden circle of superstar virtuosos.

“You just don’t build a big, worldwide career in California,” he says. “Most people make their home base in New York. I never did. I guess I was not willing to take the bull by the horns and take that chance.”

It’s not that he dislikes New York but rather that he enjoys having other opportunities. “I like the New York scene. I like going there. I’d like to play there some day. But I have played a lot in many different situations, not just in California but in other places, and done many solo recitals. . . . “

Dominguez was born and raised in the agricultural community of Indio, near Palm Springs. His father was a rancher who wanted his four children--two sons and two daughters--to have musical educations.

“In a small town, it’s really very difficult to expose yourself to symphonies, oratorios and operas, so you do what you can,” Dominguez says of his early years. “Fortunately, we had LPs, the radio and lots of good music.”

Although he was drawn to music, Dominguez, like most kids, hated practicing. “I’d rather watch ‘The Lone Ranger’ or ‘I Love Lucy.’ It took leaving home after high school and being pressed into a situation in college where you’ve got all these people--peers--that can play every bit as well as you can. When you’re in Indio, you’re a big fish in a small pond.”

Dominguez went to work seriously while studying for bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music performance at USC, where he came into contact with one of the formidable influences in his life--Jascha Heifetz, the late violinist who taught at USC from 1962 to 1982. Dominguez had been selected to be the piano accompanist for students in Heifetz’s classes from 1969 to 1972.

“Often, I would get the ax,” Dominguez says of Heifetz’s criticisms. “Once, a student was playing Mozart’s D-major fiddle concerto--my favorite--(and during) the second movement, I played half a phrase or something and (Heifetz exploded): ‘That’s a perfect example of playing like a machine! You are playing like a machine!’

“He wanted a specific nuance. That was his way of reacting to a certain something that was missing. . . .

“We were all slaves to the music. He felt that the composer came first. He would say, ‘All I want is justice done to this Beethoven, to Mozart, to whatever you’re doing.’ ”

Their association did not end happily. In 1971, after several years of playing for Heifetz, Dominguez begin a series of solo concerts in Los Angeles. His debut was favorably reviewed by Times critic Albert Goldberg.

“Well, Heifetz resented that totally,” Dominguez says. “I was working with him that year. He totally ignored me. He didn’t want me to have anything to do with solo playing. Selfish. Why should he encourage me and lose an accompanist?”

Tickets that Dominguez sent Heifetz were never used.

“He never as much as said a word--either ‘good luck’ or ‘I can’t make it.’ I would see him day after day in class, and he made no mention of it or acknowledgment of it. And I couldn’t take that. So I left. . . . I don’t think he ever knew why I left.”

Since then, Dominguez’s contacts and influences have broadened. “I have,” he says, “a lot of influences: Everybody I’ve heard, teachers, people I love to hear perform.” Still, one of Heifetz’s lessons has stuck with him: “What works for me is the search for beauty and self-expression at the service of the composer. To me, the way, the road, is the map the composer has set, and then having your system go through it, so to speak, to understand it and express it.”

Dominguez has continued to solidify his reputation through local concerts and recitals. He toured with the Roger Wagner Chorale off and on from the 1960s until 1984, and he has appeared as a soloist or in chamber groups in every Seal Beach Chamber Music Festival since 1980. He also is a member of the fledgling Southwest Chamber Music Society, which finished its first subscription series in June.

“I think audiences enjoy music of a varied type,” he says, “and I enjoy giving concerts that have different kinds of things on them.” And he enjoys being in Seal Beach. “I like the audiences there. They are very responsive. . . . They treat me as family. They see me every year.”

Albert Dominguez will play music by Scarlatti, Liszt, Falla and Brahms today at 8 p.m. at the Church of Religious Science, 500 Marina Drive, Seal Beach. Admission to the recital, part of the 14th Annual Seal Beach Chamber Music Festival, is free. Information: (213) 598-3325.