Robert Silverman is a consummate communicator, entertainer and educator - and he's no slouch as a pianist either.Montreal-born Silverman first played in Elphinstone Secondary School's cafeteria Oct. 18, 1979. He captivated Pender Harbour Music Society's (PHMS) audience last Sunday, April 17.
Between August 1996 and September 1998, Silverman played all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in eight concerts, his first public performances of these pieces.
"We were the guinea pigs," quipped PHMS president Ann Barker in her introduction.
He later made a widely acclaimed, Juno-nominated 10-CD recording of all 32 sonatas. His extensive discography also includes a recording of Liszt's piano music that received a Grand Prix du Disque.
He promised PHMS he would return and play 33 Variations on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, op. 120.
"That day has come," Silverman said. "A finer hour of continuous piano music simply does not exist."
But first, Silverman treated his audience to Johann Sebastian Bach's Partita No. 3 BWV 827. He also shone in three selections of music by Debussy and Chopin's Polonaise No. 5 in f sharp minor. Silverman excelled as both commentator and pianist. He's obviously had some practice; for 30 years, Silverman was a faculty member at UBC, latterly as music department chair. His touring schedule shows retirement hasn't slowed him down.
He distributed with the program a short essay on the Diabelli variations. He also played several pianistic illustrations before his performance, starting with the waltz itself. Among the most fascinating was a parody of the first words of Mozart's Don Giovanni: Leporello's aria, Notte e giorno faticar (Day and Night I Slave).
Silverman was equal to all the challenges of this great tour de force, the Diabelli variations. From blazing sonorities and dazzling bravura passages to melting delicacies, this wondrous composition has it all. His encore was Debussy's sonorous and expressionistic La Cathédrale engloutie.
Silverman loves playing in Pender Harbour. He obviously relished this masterwork as much as his hearers.
He'll be back in 2006 for the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth. Mark these four dates in your calendars for Mad about Mozart: April 29 and 30 and May 6 and 7.
