Petrov Surveys Demanding Piano Ballades of Chopin

The Chopin year--the composer died 150 years ago, Oct. 17--continues. The latest observation is an eight-day Chopin-centered concert-and-teaching conference at Pepperdine University called the International Piano Symposium.

It began Sunday afternoon on the Malibu campus with a joint recital by three of its distinguished five-member faculty--Russians Natalia Troull and Nikolai Petrov, and Halina Czerny-Stefanska, from Poland--and was previewed Saturday at Zipper Concert Hall with a benefit recital by Petrov.

Petrov is a fascinating pianist but a less interesting musician. Now 56, he was the silver medal winner at the first Van Cliburn International Competition in 1962. (Russian Mikhail Voskresensky, who also participates in the symposium this week came in third; the fifth faculty member is Angeleno Daniel Pollack.)

An intriguing combination of poetry and brutality characterizes Petrov’s playing, displayed in a program of Schumann’s “Beethoven” Etudes and three “Novelletten,” Opus 21, and, as a climax, the four Ballades of Chopin. These were solid but not definitive or revelatory performances, which nonetheless produced many beautiful moments.

Playing the four Ballades together is a not uncommon feat. They work as a group, which Petrov effectively conveyed.

A man of considerable strength and effortless technique, Petrov communicated the soaring lyricism and contrasting drama in the first three Ballades, but failed to make a whole out of the problematic parts of the last, a work that often eludes integration. Still, the sections sang out, and the hardest technical hurdle, the final two pages, he delivered convincingly. His encores were Chopin’s Nocturne in F-sharp, Opus 15, No. 2, and the “Winter Wind” Etude.

Sunday in Smothers Theatre, Petrov played the same Nocturne, and the third and fourth Ballades, with much the same strengths and weaknesses.

Troull, who played Tchaikovsky at the Hollywood Bowl in 1998, opened the Sunday program with the Barcarolle by Chopin and Ravel’s “Scarbo,” revealing virtuosic resourcefulness and an unflappable manner. She gives her own solo recital tonight in Smothers Theatre.

Czerny-Stefanska, a joint winner at the 1949 Chopin International Competition in Warsaw, brought an old-fashioned virtuosity and quirky individuality to her part of the Sunday performance.

She played Szymanowski’s Etude in B-flat minor, three Mazurkas and the “Military” Polonaise by Chopin and Paderewski’s Minuet in G. At 76, Czerny-Stefanska projects a glamorous stage presence, deep authority and infallible musicality. She will give a recital of the same composers--including two Krakowiaks by Paderewski--plus music by Juliusz Zarembski, Saturday at 8:30 p.m.

* The International Piano Symposium continues through Sunday. Private lessons and master classes, at 9:30 a.m. and 2 and 4 p.m., are scheduled daily, and the public is invited. Lectures by Russian musicologist Lev Ginzburg are scheduled nightly (except Wednesday) at 7 p.m. In addition to recitals by Troull (tonight) and Czerny-Stefanska (Saturday), Mikhail Voskresensky will appear, also in Smothers Theatre, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, Thursday at 8:30 p.m. Recitals: $20. (213) 383-3524.