Music Reviews : Pianist Peter Serkin Presents Evening of Premieres

In prospect extremely promising, in practice appallingly disappointing, a program devoted entirely to new works for the piano as played by Peter Serkin was performed in Royce Hall on Friday night. An audience of decent size attended, and stayed through intermission. Those who remained longer were not rewarded.

No fewer than 11 West Coast premieres occupied the agenda, a project of co-commissioning sponsored by the UCLA Center for the Performing Arts, the 92nd Street Y in New York, the Chicago Symphony and the Kennedy Center in Washington.

Ten composers--Peter Lieberson, Oliver Knussen, Bright Sheng, Tobias Picker, Christine Berl, Tison Street, Alexander Goehr, Luciano Berio, Leon Kirchner and Toru Takemitsu--were represented. Despite the familiarity of some of their names, most of them failed to produce engaging or memorable pieces.

Three of these 11 works that might impress on a second hearing are Lieberson’s two-minute nocturne, “Breeze of Delight,” Berl’s lyrical and melodious “Lord of the Dance,” and Berio’s etudette, “Feuerklavier,” the only bright spot in the second half.

Otherwise, this program became an exercise in compositional futility, though Serkin performed all of it with amazing conviction, and with his usual deep concentration and immaculate pianism.

He miscalculated in his insistence on lingering too long at the keyboard at the end of every piece, and by choosing as his stage companion and page-turner a distracting young woman wearing a leather skirt, but he inspired admiration by giving his all to music which seemed to deserve less.