MUSIC REVIEW : Buechner Plays Fragmented Recital at UCLA

A surfeit of moods, a kaleidoscope of colors and many, too many, notes made David Buechner’s latest local recital an occasion of apparent confusion.

The second of three presentations by visiting artists, in connection with the UCLA Piano Competition--which ends Sunday--this concert by the 29-year-old American pianist turned out to be the musical equivalent of a lavish buffet: generous, superficial, multifaceted and ultimately unsatisfying.

Schoenberg Hall Auditorium on the Westwood campus, where Buechner played Thursday night, is considerably less flattering to a pianist than Ambassador Auditorium, where he appeared three years ago. In this context, Buechner’s ample keyboard technique sounded brittle and less carefully manicured than one remembers. His command of touches and his attention to detail certainly emerged less impressive.

And his program, not overlong but irritatingly fragmented, offered no centerpiece, no core of interest and very few resting places for the ear. At every turn, more notes assaulted the listener.

Some of those notes were beautifully played. Buechner’s performance of the two Rhapsodies, Opus 79, displayed a dramatic sweep and Brahmsian lustiness we had forgotten they contain. In reviving the same composer’s fantasy-laden, neglected Variations in D on an Original Theme, Opus 21, No. 1, the pianist seemed to integrate all elements, handsomely.

One also had to admire his conscientious run-through of four of Dvorak’s Six Pieces, Opus 52.

What was needed at this point in his program, however, was not more little pieces, but a major statement, or at least a worthy, post-intermission climax.

Instead, the following, program-ending Second Rhapsody by Gershwin--in Buechner’s own arrangement for solo piano--became the occasion for even more note-spinning.

Then, when, with very little coaxing from his audience, Buechner launched into an encore in the form of one of Gershwin’s own, filigree-busy song-transcriptions, the moment for flight appeared to have arrived.