3:00 p.m.

The Life and Music of Frederic Chopin and Franz Liszt

Unitarian Church
312 Fillmore St.
Staten Island, NY 10301

Free Admission. For more information call 718-447-2204

American Pianist Reveals a Passion for Music by Villa Lobos: Playing Brazilian Music for the United States is one of the Wishes of Marcel Rominger

Playing for the first time at Carnegie Hall in New York, is a weighty responsibility.  However, it is also a pleasure to listen to classical pieces by Beethoven, Liszt and Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos by the hands of pianist Marcel Rominger, 30, son of a Swiss father and Brazilian mother.

The presentation at the famous home of concerts happened last 17^thof Janaury.  It was not only the opportunity itself which left Marcel animated, but the fact he could show different styles in which Villa-Lobos is included.  For Marcel, to show the public this side of the Brazilian musician is a great honor.

However, he wants more, revealing the urge to play works by contemporary Brazilian musicians.  This interest in culture, history and especially Brazilian music happened due to his mother.  Yet the more detailed knowledge of samba and bossa nova he learned on his own.  His preferences include the musical maestro Antonio Carlos Jobim and poet Vinicius de Moraes.

In New York, where he lives, contact with Brazilian music is maintained through interaction with fellow Brazilian composers.  “I do not have as much connection with the Brazilians as I would like,” said Marcel, who was born in the United States.  Citing the new Villa-Lobos, he emphasized that the Brazilian musician knew, oddly enough, how to show the country through music, with simplicity and beauty. “I think when you listen to Villa-Lobos, you hear Brazil.”

Marcel became interested in classical music at 5 years of age, when he was presented to musicians such as Mozart and Beethoven.  He expressed the desire to broaden horizons. “I want to explore more contemporary works.” The young musician would like to give a concert in Brazil and has confessed to two other ambitions.  To “play Brazilian music for the American public, and to play American music for the Brazilian public.”

Member of the Conservatory of Music in Staten Island since 2005, Marcel also teaches music, a reason to explain why he has such ability with other instruments.  Currently, he is getting his Doctor of Musical Art in Piano Performance with Hugo Goldenzweig at the City University of New York (CUNY).  In his CD, that has his own name, he includes Villa-Lobos, with A Prole do Bebê: O Polichinello.

The full career of Marcel Rominger can be seen through his official website at www.marcelrominger.com. Contact with the artist can be made by e-mail: marcelrominger@yahoo.com.

Angela Schreiber

Communidade News

Opening with the Sonata No. 65 in A Minor by Padre Antonio Soler, he offered a welcome glimpse into Soler’s lesser-known later style. If one tends to lump Soler’s Sonatas together with Scarlatti’s, this piece is the cure (its three involved movements, lasting around fifteen minutes); Rominger navigated its challenges with poise and elegance. It is tempting to treat what might be called the harmonic non-sequiturs in Soler with exaggeration, but Rominger’s undemonstrative approach was dignified and persuasive.

Beethoven’s Sonata, Op. 57 (“Appassionata”), followed and was given a thoughtful and well-prepared reading, if not quite the bristling bravura to which one is accustomed. Occasionally one wanted a deeper sound. Again, Mr. Rominger struck this listener as a player who values control and restraint over heaven-storming virtuosity. This quality was particularly appreciated in the next work, the “Winnsboro cotton mill blues” from Rzewski’s Four American Ballads. Without violating the mechanical inspiration behind the work, the pianist managed to project big resonant blocks of sound that still had tonal complexity and interest. Contrasted with ear-splitting live performances this listener has heard, Mr. Rominger’s fared the best. The middle “blues” part was especially winning.

A Prole Do Bebê, Suite No. 1 of Villa-Lobos opened the second half (with movements rearranged effectively). It was played with refreshing liberty, so one hopes the pianist will keep it in his repertoire; it will only gain more color and vibrancy with time. The “Dante” Sonata from Liszt’s Années de Pèlerinage was a solid close to a promising debut. The same composer’s Waldesrauschen provided an encore.

Enjoy

The intricacy of the Courante, Gavotte and Gigue is carried off with diamond accuracy, rounding off a performance that is equally polished, considered and characterful.

Rominger’s rendition of Beethoven’s ‘Appassionata’ is one of the highlights of the CD. His lyrical interpretation of the 1st Movement is simply wonderful, displaying a dynamic range that is the hallmark of an accomplished performer and a first-rate recording.

The allegro ma non troppo is performed with brilliance – the ideal showcase for Rominger’s technical and musical maturity. He makes the technical demands sound effortless, and in doing so gives a compelling and energetic performance.

This is a world apart from Liszt’s Two Concert Etudes, which is a delight of melodic escapism. In the Waldesrauschen the listener is drawn immediately into a performance that ends and begins with pure magic, while the impish Gnomenreigen is delivered with polish and conviction.

Finally, the Prokofiev Sonata. Here Rominger seems to revel in the harmonic exuberance of this beautiful and demanding work, grappling with the fortissimo passages and emerging as the clear victor.

In all, this is a stunning recording from a prodigiously talented musician. Highly recommended.”

Marcel played Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues by Frederic Rzewski that required him to play melodically in part of the piece with his elbows, as the keys rumbled an increasingly louder escalation of notes, which sounded like the beginning eruptions of a volcano. He managed this difficult composition with a startling contrast of moods and feelings, which the audience immensely enjoyed.

Finally, Marcel treated the audience to Liszt’s Dante Sonata. Rarely, is this piece played with such splendid technical command, exquisite sensitivity, and beauty of tone that one audience member was heard to say, “It’s as if Liszt himself were here playing.” Indeed, if a movie were to be made of the young Liszt at the height of his powers, the romantic figure of Marcel Rominger would be an excellent choice.
As he ended his recital, the large audience sprang to their feet in standing ovation with thunderous applause