In Robson’s Piano Recital, Brevity Is the Soul of Century

For his part in this season’s admirable Piano Spheres recital series, Mark Robson thought small, in a generous way. His fascinating program, Tuesday night at Pasadena’s Neighborhood Church, included no fewer than two dozen pieces, all from this century, often from obscure sources, and played with obvious love and dedication.

One sign of Robson’s unusual programming touch came at the outset, with four “Encores” by Luciano Berio, scintillating little pieces of varying character, from the icy elegance of “brin” to the fluttery, unsettled arpeggiating of “luftklavier.” The contrasts continued: Stefan Wolpe’s “Pastorale” slips from its Modernist sobriety to a bluesy swagger. Eliott Carter’s Piano Sonata was originally written in the mid-’40s, as Carter was shifting from an early lyrical, tonal style to more atonal constructs: The shift seems to take place before our ears here.

The second half of Robson’s recital included the post-impressionistic flourish of Charles Griffes’ “The White Peacock,” and a suite of three unrelated pieces, by Ruth Crawford Seeger, Maurice Ohana and Scriabin, making conspicuous use of fifth intervals. Hindemith’s “In einer Nacht: Traume und Erlebnisse” is a nocturnal-themed mosaic of 14 tiny pieces, laced with humor and glazed with introspection, including his “Foxtrott,” a wily cousin of the real thing.

All this, clocking in at under two hours, managed to offer an engaging if oblique portrait of the century that is and almost was.