Music Reviews : Watts Reappears at Ambassador Auditorium

Making his 14th appearance at Ambassador Auditorium, Andre Watts played some things new, some things old, all things in his characteristic, individual way. The American pianist has become an icon--reliable, individual and beloved.

Schubert, Chopin, Ravel and Debussy have been cornerstones of Watts’ repertory since his first recital appearances in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. They were back again--perhaps in a less fascinating configuration than in some of the pianist’s previous programs--on Tuesday night, before a large and enthusiastic audience in the Pasadena hall.

Along with familiar Impressionist pieces, Watts this time offered three novelties by Maurice Ravel, all from the year 1913: the Prelude the composer wrote as a sight-reading test-piece for the Paris Conservatory and the two “A la maniere . . .” pieces with which he paid homage to Chabrier and Borodin (favorite composers of his).

These are charmers, all, even though the one titled “A la maniere de Borodine” might be construed as going beyond affection into caricature. With his usual affectionate probing, Watts made them as intriguing and seductive as probably they can be.

He did similar justice, as he often does, to three of the five parts of Ravel’s “Miroirs”--”Alborada del gracioso” being given an especially virtuosic and improvisatory treatment--and to Debussy’s three pieces of “Estampes.”

Neither all shades in the dynamic palette nor all of the coloristic possibilities in these works emerged on this occasion, but, as far as these readings went, they proved often delectable. And, in his search for spontaneity, Watts made them ever-interesting.

Schubert’s B-flat Impromptu and Sonata in A, Opus 120, and Chopin’s Nocturne (Opus 27, No. 1) and Etude (Opus 25, No. 7), both in C-sharp minor, and G-minor Ballade found Watts taking risks: extremes of tempo (exceedingly slow or quite fast); unprescribed, but often rhetorically effective, pauses; the unexpected highlighting of particular pianistic details. Even in his quirkiness, this musician is reliable.

After the closer, “L’Isle Joyeuse,” the two encores were Liszt’s “Nuages Gris” and Chopin’s Etude in A-flat, Opus 125, No. 1.