Music Reviews : Nojima Plays Ravel

With his undemonstrative physical style and placid stage presence, Minoru Nojima might seem ill-suited for the fantasy of Ravel’s piano music. Friday evening in Marsee Auditorium at El Camino College, however, he demonstrated ample poetic ability, supported with fastidious technique.

The occasion was also the official dedication--it had been played previously--of a new Steinway for the school, and began with introductions and short speeches from campus dignitaries.

The instrument sounded bright and dry at first, in the “Noctuelles” of the opening “Miroirs” set. Nojima was soon able to draw mellow, balanced sounds from it, however, while exploiting its clarity to full effect in “Alborada del gracioso.”

“Miroirs” and “Gaspard de la nuit” are foundations of pianistic impressionism, and where sustained reverie and pictorial nuance are called for, Nojima triumphed. “Oiseaux tristes” from the former and “Ondine” from the latter, in particular, proved minor miracles of musical imagery and interpretive concentration.

But Nojima’s palette seems to hold only pastels. Though technically supremely assured, his “Scarbo” was far from scarifying, lacking thunder and hard edges, and “Le Gibet” proved merely mournful, wanting a sense of stark horror.

Nojima matched these impressionistic masterpieces with minor examples of Ravel’s neo-classic manner, the “Pavane pour une infante defunte” and the “Valses nobles et sentimentales.” He was reasonably direct in the Pavane, but the waltzes would have profited from a greater emphasis on dance physicality and less subtle whimsy.

Neither the preliminary speechifying nor the stuffy heat--nor the occasional external sounds when the side doors were opened to improve the air flow after intermission--distracted the large audience from attentive appreciation, which it demonstrated with steady applause. However, no encores were forthcoming.