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| Adam Cook |
29th
May 2014
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
It was a charming gesture by pianist Adam Cook to honour the 80th birthday of his teacher and mentor, Larry Sitsky, with this recital. Although Sitsky’s actual birthday doesn’t occur until September, Cook took advantage of a short window of opportunity between Sitsky’s return to Canberra from overseas and his own departure for further studies in Paris to present the concert.
The program
commenced with an assured performance of a suite of six Romanian folk dances,
composed by Bella Bartok in 1915. Prior to playing them, Cook provided some background
to each of the dances and their adaptation by Bartok. The explanation actually
took more time than the dances themselves, as the suite, which ends with a dazzling
“fast dance”, took only around five minutes to perform.
Three of the
notoriously difficult Debussy preludes, also composed in 1915, provided Cook
with the perfect vehicles to further demonstrate his virtuosity and command of
technique. His performance of them was as impressive as it was incisive. The
final work was Larry Sitsky’s astonishing “Sonata No. 2 for Piano” composed in 2010
especially for Adam Cook. A big,
muscular, demanding and entertaining work, it provides a perfect showcase for
Cooks prodigious talent, and was given a virtuosic performance by him, at times
pounding the keyboard with closed fists, or the heels of his hands, to satisfy
the demands of the music and extract the affects required. This stunning work
will no doubt serve Cook well as a signature work for his repertoire, as he
competes for attention on the world stage.
Responding
to the recital, the guest of honour, Larry Sitsky, made some erudite remarks
about the difficulties facing young musicians transitioning from student to
professional musician. Hopefully, Cook will take the hint and give some
attention to polishing his presentation skills, because in this regard, his
performance was disappointing.
At one stage
he mentioned that he intended this recital to be informal. However “ informal”
doesn’t preclude polish, particularly when his audience are paying for the privilege
of attending. Such details as ensuring
that the stage is properly set, instead of cluttered with unused instruments, as
it was on this occasion; checking you know how to use the microphone properly so that your remarks can
be understood, and avoiding such discourtesies
as delaying the start time of the recital considerably , to accommodate late
arriving friends, when the rest of your large
audience, including the guest of honour, have made the effort to be seated by
the advertised start time, may prove as important to an emerging artist as technical brilliance in ensuring
career success.
This review appears in the May 30th digital edition of CITY NEWS