Gifted Pianist Pratt Shows a Few Signs of Mellowing

In three previous Southern California recitals, the gifted American pianist Awadagin Pratt--promising at best, controversial at worst--in no way foreshadowed the characteristics he exhibited through the eclectic potpourri of standard repertory he put together for the first half of his Dorothy Chandler Pavilion recital Tuesday night.

This was an oddball agenda, to be sure, connected only by key-relationships and correspondences and by a flattened sense of style, and made more strange when the pianist requested no applause between pieces. Pratt also practiced his by-now familiar eccentricities--his costume was a bright orange, long-sleeve shirt with black pants, and he sat, as usual, at a low wooden bench that resembles a tiny table.

The program did flow--from a Schubert piece to a Brahms group, followed by usually contrasting items by Bach, Chopin and Rachmaninoff. But the manner of its performance invited deep relaxation, and not the kind that keeps the listener raptly awaiting what comes next. Not unexpectedly, some attendees escaped at intermission.

That was too bad, since the second half--Beethoven’s Sonata in A, Opus 101, and Brahms’ Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel--found an energy level well above the somnambulistic. The Brahms set, particularly, showed Pratt to be a probing musician and solid technician, one who most intelligently clarifies the materials at hand. The variations built inexorably to the plateau of the fugue, and only minor performance fatigue was evident by the end.

The pianist’s way with Opus 101 emerged less compelling but nevertheless admirable, balancing the lyric and severe elements in the work cannily and, again, with clarity.

Pratt’s single encore was the Liszt transcription of Schumann’s “Widmung,” most handsomely played.