MUSIC REVIEW : Pianist Benedetto Lupo: Still on Brink of Great Artistry

Not much has changed in the two years since Benedetto Lupo, bronze-medalist in the 1989 Van Cliburn International Competition in Fort Worth, played his first Los Angeles-area recital, at Ambassador Auditorium. What is different, 26 months after that very impressive debut, are our perceptions of the now-30-year-old pianist.

As heard at his second Ambassador recital, Wednesday night, Lupo remains a young virtuoso on the brink--of maturity, of major, world-class achievement, of potential widespread acclaim. One must point out, of course, that some artists spend entire careers poised on comparable brinks.

For the nonce, Lupo gives great musical pleasure, demonstrates a faceted and admirable control over his many technical resources, and communicates in most moments. He sounds like an important young artist.

His return to Pasadena was met with loud approval by a discerning audience who behaved better than most: They clapped only in appropriate places (and then vigorously), and coughed seldom.

The pianist from Bari clearly held their interest. The first half of his program--a real contrast to his 1992 repertory--consisted entirely of Chopin’s 24 Preludes, Opus 28, in a serious, often touching performance of strong individuality and deep feeling.

There may be other ways to interpret these Romantic gems, but Lupo’s choices seemed right for him and usually vivid for his listeners.

Some of the emotions here delivered seemed secondhand rather than spontaneous--the memory of anger, or fear, or tenderness, rather than the feelings themselves. Even so, most of these 24 vignettes became viable, and some proved memorable. When the pianist got to the final piece, for example, measured vehemence at last made an appearance. And the myriad beauties of the more moonstruck Preludes--the “Raindrop,” or the F-sharp, or the B-flat--brought out the best in his broad arsenal of touches and dynamics.

Similar strengths and inconsistencies marked Lupo’s playing of Book I in the first series of Debussy’s “Images,” and Book II of Albeniz’s “Iberia,” proving that even practiced virtuosos sometimes let themselves be hurried along and even occasionally get into scrambles. It is a genuine tribute to Lupo’s usually edgeless piano sound that only once in this evening did his tone grow harsh, in the knotty convolutions of “Triana,” closing item of the program proper.

After that, the pianist graciously offered three encores: Scriabin’s Prelude, Opus 11, No. 21; Rachmaninoff’s “Moment Musical,” Opus 16, No. 4, and Debussy’s “La plus que lente.”