MUSIC REVIEW : Pianist Taub Gives Satisfying, Serious Concert of Sonatas

A program of Beethoven sonatas can expose a pianist’s weaknesses or it can uncover his or her depths. Robert Taub’s latest recital at the L.A. County Museum of Art did both.

Before an enthusiastic crowd in Bing Theater Wednesday night, the American pianist showed a wonderful sense of detailing combined with a musician’s serious overview of the territory. That landscape this time offered reconsiderations of the sonatas, Opus 7; Opus 31, No. 1; Opus 90 and Opus 13. There were revelations in each of Taub’s performances.

There were also blemishes, sometimes of mere rushing, other times of apparent indifference or momentary discombobulation. The sober joys (in the outer movements) and deep grief (of the great Largo) in Opus 7 came across solidly, but without a gloss of genuine conviction; Taub made this early masterpiece sound dutiful rather than personal.

On the other hand, his mastery of the towering--and brief--E-minor Sonata, Opus 90, seemed complete, at least in the drama and tight reckonings of the opening movement.

And there was amusement and unforced wit in one of the composer’s happiest creations, the G-major Sonata of Opus 31. Here is Beethoven acting like Rossini, for once elegant and never bumptious. Taub, without cracking a smile, delivered all the work’s humors.

To close, the 37-year-old virtuoso, who has proven his versatility before, displayed high accomplishment in an authoritative account of the “Pathetique” Sonata, one of appropriate breadth and urgency.