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Brilliant technique: The piano now has a new star

By Marc Shulgold, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published March 22, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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It's not every day that a pianist follows a concerto performance by soliciting requests. But then, Gabriela Montero is not your everyday pianist.

The Friday night audience cheered the Venezuelan musician as she strolled onto the stage of Boettcher Hall, while many of the Colorado Symphony musicians cleared the decks to make way for her specialty - an improvised encore.

She had just finished a roof-rattling rendition of Rachmaninoff's Third Concerto. Addressing the audience, Montero asked for a theme. A gentleman suggested Beethoven's Fifth.

And she obliged - beginning with a little meandering tune, then suddenly jumping into a rousing, playful tango. It was a hoot.

Montero has few peers in the improv department. Her way with written-out music displays a similar individuality.

The Rach 3 unfolded with plenty of power (occasionally too much for the Steinway and the hall to handle), and seemingly spontaneous episodes of solo playing. Lucky for Montero, Marin Alsop was on the podium, nimbly steering the CSO in a supportive, flexible accompaniment that brought added electricity to the performance.

Some might quibble that the pianist's pedal technique robs the music of clarity in those stormy explosions, but Montero's brilliant technique - and liquid tone in the introspective passages - easily overcomes those few blurred moments. The piano now has a new star.

Speaking of stars, the Boettcher audience caught a glimpse of one in the making: the young Taiwanese Mei-Ann Chen, the latest winner of the Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship - created by Alsop to encourage and promote women conductors of promise.

Chen shows more than promise. Here is a confident, engaging musician who was able to inject Beethoven's Coriolan Overture with a fresh degree of drama, lyricism and transparency. Her podium manner is thrilling to watch, passionate and committed, yet on the money with cues and pacing. Watch for her.

Alsop then led the orchestra in Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, following Chen's lead by conducting from memory. While the second movement seemed a bit too deliberate, the rest of the symphony glowed with a sunny disposition, delivered with obvious affection by the orchestra.

Marc Shulgold is the music and dance writer. Shulgoldm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5296

Colorado Symphony

* Grade: A-

* When and where: repeated at 7:30 p.m. today in Boettcher Hall, 14th and Curtis streets

* Cost: $15 to $69.50

* Information: 303-623-7876