MUSIC REVIEW : Liszt and Chopin From Fialkowska

Janina Fialkowska has been playing major works by Franz Liszt in regular appearances here since her first Ambassador Auditorium recital, in 1975. But never with more authority and conviction than she displayed at her latest Pasadena concert Wednesday night.

The Polish Canadian pianist offered an entire half-recital of Liszt pieces, five technical and musical hurdles testing not only bravura and endurance, but imagination and emotional projection as well. Fialkowska conquered all.

She lit the inner fires of the “Dante” Sonata as effortlessly as she dominated its mechanical intricacies, reminding us that this is a work of delicacy and poetry as much as it is a potboiler.

Before that, she produced irresistible ripples and cascades in “Au bord d’une source,” sang out the tender rhetoric of “Senza lentezza quasi allegretto” (from “Apparitions”) and delivered all the Romantic enchantment in “Valse impromptu,” after opening the group, and the recital, with the heroic fanfare of the Polonaise No. 2.

This demonstration of comprehensive virtuosity continued after intermission with masterpieces by Polish composers.

Szymanowski’s clangorous but mystical “Metopes,” Opus 29, showed us contrasting facets in the 42-year-old pianist’s musical makeup. Chopin’s B-minor Sonata brought to mind the old saw, “You don’t have to be Polish to play Chopin, but it doesn’t hurt.” Indeed, Fialkowska made every bit of this familiar score her own, individual statement, in particular the wondrous soliloquy of the third movement, the heart of the work.

Her first two encores turned out to be relics of an era before her birth: Myra Hess’ transcription of “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” and the “Caprice Espagnole” by Moritz Moszkowski.