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Moreland Faculty Recital: Review

Contributed by: Robin McNeil on 4/25/2008

On Tuesday, April 22, Dr. Irina Moreland gave her faculty recital at Colorado Christian University. She is on the piano faculty there and is no doubt a welcome addition. She is a formidable pianist and a truly fine musician. She possesses incredible technique that can produce the most delicate of sounds as well as truly impressive fireworks.

Dr. Moreland has earned two doctorates in piano performance; one from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia and one from CU in Boulder. Irina attended the St. Petersburg Specialized College of Music for Gifted Children (1978-1985). In the following years she earned her Master of Musical Arts with Honorary Diploma from the world famous St. Petersburg State Conservatory (1986-1991), studying with Natan Perelman, Anatol Ugorski and Gregory Sokolov. Her Doctor of Musical Arts from St. Petersburg State Conservatory followed in 1992-95, as well as post graduate studies with M.Voskresensky, A. Skavronsky and M. Pletnev of Moscow State Conservatory (1994-1995).

As a soloist, she has successfully appeared in Russia, Ukraine, Canada, England, Ireland, Austria, France and United States in numerous solo, chamber and orchestral recitals. The New York press has often praised her performances. "Moreland has a palette of musical expression in her playing, allowing her to tackle the greatest works for piano with ease... her performance is brilliant, fascinating to watch and hear her exquisite pianism...." She also performed as a soloist with Lakewood Symphony performing the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto and the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra performing the Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini by Rachmaninoff.

In academia, Irina has held the positions of Assistant Professor of Piano at St. Petersburg State Conservatory; Adjunct Professor for the Colorado School of Mines Choral Department, and Graduate Assistant and Accompanist at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Currently, she is teaching as an Affiliate Professor at Colorado Christian University and the University of Colorado at Denver.

Irena opened her program with four Debussy Preludes from Book Two. The Debussy Preludes are exceedingly difficult pieces which one does not hear all that often in a live performance. The American composer, Virgil Thomson, said that, "Among all musical masters Claude Debussy was the least weighed upon by the dead hand of formula... he was like a Frenchman cooking a meal, he felt, he imagined, he reasoned, and he constructed." These Preludes, Book I, published in 1910, and Book II, published in 1913, are really an attribute to Chopin whom Debussy truly idolized. As a matter of fact, once Debussy established himself as a composer he edited Chopin's complete works for a French publisher. Like Chopin, Debussy sought to distill the pianism of his epoch in these miniatures. However, he seems to have gone further than Chopin in realizing the literal use of the title, Prelude. As the French music critic, Emile Vuillermoz, once stated, "...[the Preludes] are dream like prefaces to some phantom work which will never be written." But Debussy does give us a clue, for at the end of each piece there are a few words that give us an indication of the idea or vision that inspired each Prelude.

In these Preludes, Dr. Moreland's playing was absolutely perfect. She is a true musician whose touch in all of the Preludes was light and airy and completely transparent. She had total control of the dynamics while never losing control over the tone which was warm when required, or crystal clear with an almost bel canto quality. What really caught my attention were the glissandos in the last Prelude that she played, "Fireworks." Anyone can drag their hand across the keyboard, but Moreland had startling control over the dynamics -- it is really hard to do glissandos as softly as she did, and with such remarkable control of the pedal that one could hear every single note as an individual.

After the Debussy, a Dr. Moreland continued her performance of very difficult works by selecting, in collaboration with Dr. MeeAe Nam and Dr. Steven Taylor, 10 songs from the Spanisches Liederbuch by Hugo Wolf. As everyone must surely be aware by now, Dr. MeeAe Nam is one of the finest Sopranos in the western half of the United States. She teaches voice at Metropolitan State College here in Denver. Her partner in the performance of the songs, Dr. Steven Taylor, baritone, is the Dean of the School of Music at Colorado Christian University. Both of these singers have performed throughout the world, and once more, all three of these musicians provided the audience with some truly wonderful music. MeeAe Nam's singing was accompanied by a truly inspired sense of drama, whether it was light, comic, or poignant. Dr. Steven Taylor has a terrific voice that, to my way of thinking, at any rate, has the quality of a Heldentenor, or heroic tenor. It would be very interesting indeed, to hear him sing the role of Parsifal in Wagner's famous opera. Nam and Taylor took turns singing these songs and the audience was absolutely delighted with their performance. Dr. Moreland worked so well with Nam and Taylor that it seemed they had performed together for years. She anticipated both singers on all of their minute agogics and nuances, not to mention dynamics. I would also like to point out that one of the reasons this performance by these two singers was so exceptional, was that every syllable of every word could be heard. That, coupled with Moreland's wonderful playing ability, made this performance unforgettable.

After the intermission, the program was all Rachmaninoff. Dr. Moreland performed the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody On a Theme by Paganini, Opus 43.

Rachmaninoff, for this set of variations, used Niccolo Paganini's 24th Caprice in A minor for a set of twenty-four variations which he cast in a remarkable four-movements-in-one composition. The first eleven variations form the first movement which is fast, variations twelve through fifteen form a minuet, variations sixteen through eighteen are the slow movement, and variations nineteen through twenty-four are the final fast movement. There will likely be no one in the audience who will not recognize Variation 18, as it has been used in several Hollywood films. It is the epitome of Rachmaninoff's melodic skill, but most do not realize that it is Paganini's theme turned upside down. This is a technique that one would ascribe more to Rachmaninoff's great contemporary composer, Arnold Schoenberg. But you must understand that this is an unusual piece, because Rachmaninoff places the first variation before the entrance of the theme. In addition, this is one of several compositions in which Rachmaninoff quotes the Dies Irae theme from the medieval Requiem Mass. Rachmaninoff began this work while he was staying at his villa in Switzerland on the shore of Lake Lucerne in 1934. He performed the premiere the same year with Leopold Stokowski conducting.

Irina Moreland last performed this piece with the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra on December 21 of last year. At this recital, she relied upon Phillip Howard to play the orchestra part on the second piano. Again, Dr. Moreland's technique made it wonderfully possible to bring out the rhythmic jabs that are so typical of Rachmaninoff, as well as, the inner melodic lines that made Rachmaninoff so famous. It also was quite obvious that Irina Moreland has great power at the keyboard. It is very easy for her to reach the dynamic levels that this piece requires. And once again, her tone was truly beautiful and her phrasing was pure Rachmaninoff - that is to say, it was as if she were treating the melodic lines as a separate vocal instrument and accompanying that instrument with very subtle nuances. It was a shame that Mr. Howard did not do the same for Dr. Moreland. I think that he plays quite well, but he was often 1/8 of the beat, or so, behind Moreland. It sometimes seemed as if he wanted to lead the soloist rather then let the soloist be the leader. It almost seemed that he did not quite understand his role as a collaborative pianist. But, there was no doubt the Dr. Moreland understood Rachmaninoff, and that she understood the vitality and drive which this piece demands. She simply sat down at the piano, and without much movement except for her hands and arms, made some truly memorable music.

According to Rachmaninoff, "A composer's music should express the country of his birth, his love affairs, his religion, the books that have influenced him, the pictures he loves. It should be the sum total of a composer's experience." Once a composer has thus affirmed his desire for self-exposure, what musical form could be better suited to the expression of such intimate experiences than the solo song?

To close the program, Dr. Moreland was once more joined by Dr. Nam in seven Rachmaninoff songs. The balance between these two artists was so perfect that, once again, it seemed as if they had been performing together for a very long time. These are very difficult songs for the singer as well as the pianist. I only hope that Moreland and Nam will work together in the future. It was very clear that both of these women have an affinity for Rachmaninoff, both musically and technically. In fact, one was left with the feeling that they would have an affinity for anything that they cared to do. The audience gave Moreland, Nam, and Taylor a standing ovation that they so richly deserved.



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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Robin McNeil

Littleton , CO

Robin McNeil has posted 698 stories and 0 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Robin McNeil 's average story rating is 5.
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