New York Classical Review

Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Music Center has a compact, but packed and exciting two-day festival this weekend. Friday and Saturday, four pianists are each playing a set of music defining “100 Years of American Piano Music.” Organized by pianist Anthony de Mare and Merkin’s director of artistic planning John Glover, the first of four concerts was given by Jenny Lin.

Lin’s own program was in one way a subset of the festival theme; hers was “100 Years of Virtuosity.” she played seventeen short pieces in chronological order, starting with Charles Ives’ Study No. 23 from before World War One, to Moving Étude No. 3, “Everything Changes,”composed by Timo Andres in 2017. All these alone on one concert came close to telling the story of American music, and opened up a wider context than just what was happening onstage.

There were etudes on a program showing virtuosity, and Lin was up for it. This was a lot of difficult music, not just the challenges Ives puts to the mind in finding the logic that makes his study a full piece , but Ruth Crawford Seeger’s Study in Mixed Accents, David Rakowski’s “E-Machines” from Book I of his Études; and Philip Glass’s Étude No. 6. This was music about how the piano can be played—how to set two hands and ten fingers with and against each other, how to play polyphony so it is clear, how to shift phrases, rhythms, and accents in synchronization and opposition, not just at high velocity but in different directions.

Lin was excellent, in complete command, and in music like the Glass and Seeger, playing fast tempos. Moving quickly through this well-shaped program, her energy and focus never wavered, she was sensitive to details of dynamics and articulation, and best of all showed understanding of what she was playing, even as she traversed seventeen different conceptions and personalities. Her speed and the transparency of her playing were often thrilling, especially with her superb repertoire choices.

One of the qualities of this was selecting pieces from composers who wrote fantastic piano music but never had a high profile, or whose reputation has been hidden by mere prominent or prolific artists. That certainly applies to Seeger, one of the great modernists of the 20th century who didn’t compose many works. Others included Louise Talma’s twisty Allegro from her Six Études, Robert Helps dreamy Étude No. 2, Rakowski, and Curtis Curtis-Smith’s contemplative Étude No. 5, “Free and Easy.” There is a ton of great piano music out there that musicians know but rarely gets in front of audiences, so this mix of surprises was a pleasure. 

What was intriguing and satisfying about all this was the play of history behind the pieces. Part of that was right on the surface, hearing Ives experiment with ideas that would make their way into his “Concord” Sonata and orchestral pieces, grabbing bits of ragtime and Tin Pan Alley, then George Antheil’s insouciant Jazz Sonata and Seeger’s pocket masterpiece. One heard the movement of both American originalism and influences; Ives seeking new ground, the following music work with Stravinsky’s ideas.

From Virgil Thomson’s “Ragtime Bass” and Morton Gould’s excellent Boogie Woogie Étude, American music started to look more at the American vernacular. Helps and Ned Rorem’s Etude No. 7, and Earl Wild’s Étude after George Gershwin’s “Embraceable You,” took Ravel and extended him into the future. Few things can define American classical music—with roots in ragtime, the blues, and Art Tatum that grow alongside European ideas—like that tidy stretch.

Lin also deftly set out a formal shape to her program, with several fast works, a few slower ones, then alternating with shorter sequences of tempo. The contemporary era was an extended coda, not wrapping up the story but show how history is moving in the 21st century. Nico Muhly’s John-Adams-ish “Running” from his Three Études, Augusta Read Thomas’ haunting, spare “Rain at Funeral” from her Homage to Morton Feldman, Matthew Aucoin’s atomizing “rondo which devours itself” Étude, then Andres’, which sounded like a question at the end of a superb, stimulating introduction: What’s next?

Mikael Darmanie plays Copland, Glass, Caroline Shaw, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, and others, 6 p.m., Saturday; Anthony de Mare plays Copland, Cowell, Cage, Feldman, Nancarrow, Laurie Anderson, Rzewski, and more, at 8 p.m., Saturday. kaufmanmusiccenter.org