News / Clark County News

Concert to feature pianist, premiere of Brotons piece

The Columbian

Published: February 20, 2015, 12:00am

Pianist Arnaldo Cohen Pianist will play two Liszt concertos when the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra performs on Feb. 21-22.

• What: Vancouver Symphony concert, with pianist Arnaldo Cohen playing two Liszt concertos and the world premiere of Salvador Brotons’ “Sixth Symphony.”

• When: 3 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday.

• Where: Skyview High School Concert Hall, 1300 N.W. 139th St., Vancouver.

• Cost: $50 reserved, $35 general, $30 for seniors and $10 for students.

• Information: 360-735-7278 or www.vancouversymphony.org

You have to be brilliant and disciplined to juggle an international performing career with teaching at a major-league music conservatory and helming the artistic direction of an acclaimed recital series. But such a balancing act is just a normal day for Arnaldo Cohen, who will perform Liszt’s “First Piano Concerto” and “Second Piano Concerto” with the Vancouver Symphony this weekend.

After winning the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in 1972, Cohen has appeared with many of the world’s greatest orchestras and given countless recitals. For many years, he taught at the Royal Academy of Music in London and is now on the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University. Since 2013, he has taken over the artistic leadership of Portland Piano International, one of the top piano recital series in the nation.

“You wouldn’t believe my day,” said Cohen over the phone from his home in Indiana. “This morning, I was up at 6 and worked at the piano until 9. Then I went to the university to teach, and returned home to work on some things for PPI and more piano practice. This year, I have 12 different piano concertos to play plus a recital with Antonio Meneses, the great cellist who is a member of the Beaux Arts Trio.”

Cohen has performed Liszt’s concertos many times, and he has five CDs that feature Liszt’s music. He recorded both concertos with the Sao Paulo Symphony under conductor John Neschling on the BIS label.

“It’s quite demanding to play two piano concertos in the same concert, because you are telling two different stories,” related Cohen. “It’s not the same as playing a piano recital where one piece is linked to the next. I remember Arthur Rubinstein used to play three piano concertos in an evening. So two is not so bad.”

The “First Piano Concerto” is famous for its flashy beginning and is slightly shorter than the Second.

“Liszt’s ‘First Piano Concerto’ is technically demanding, because you have to start right away with those jumping octaves, which is a dicey thing,” Cohen said. “If you play them in a careful way, then you lose the personality of the music, and it can become boring.”

The “Second Piano Concerto” has a more poetic and contemplative mood with several lyrical melodies.

“With both concertos, you have to be aware at all times of the balance between the piano and the orchestra,” Cohen said. “You need a piano that has a very strong and open sound. Liszt’s concertos are sophisticated, and it is challenging for them to sound well. This is why Liszt is often misunderstood as someone who only thought about virtuoso pianism with no substance or depth in his music at all. But he generated seeds that other composers like Wagner used to create trees.”

Another very busy person whose musical talents will be featured on the Vancouver Symphony program is the orchestra’s music director, Salvador Brotons. Brotons maintains an international career as a conductor, teaches music in Barcelona and composes. He has written more than 130 works and received 16 prizes for composition, and his music has been recorded by EMI, Auvidis, Albany Records, Naxos, Claus and RNE.

For the Vancouver Symphony concert, he will conduct his “Sixth Symphony,” which he began writing in June and finished in September.

“My ‘Sixth Symphony’ was a commission for symphonic band, but I originally wrote it for orchestra,” Brotons said. “The performances we are going to do in Vancouver will be the world premiere of the orchestral version. I wanted to write a piece that would be concise, not a very long symphony. It has five movements and lasts 25 minutes. It has a lot of contrast, and also a lot of loud and fast passages. This piece does not follow any specific program, unlike my ‘Fifth Symphony,’ which is programmatic.”

According to Brotons, he has been writing music since he was 14 years old, and it is almost second nature to him.

“I can compose at any time, but usually I have more time at night,” Brotons said. “When I compose an important piece, I can work on it during any hour of the day. It doesn’t matter.”

The Vancouver Symphony will open the concert with the “Overture” to the Dmitri Kabalevsky’s opera “Colas Breugnon.” Kabalevsky wrote several operas, but “Colas Breugnon,” produced in Leningrad on Feb. 22, 1938, brought him the most recognition. Based on a novel by Roman Rolland, it tells the story of a Breton master carpenter who defeats a villainous duke. The opera’s “Overture” is peppered with witty themes that are wrapped up in a whirlwind finale.

• What: Vancouver Symphony concert, with pianist Arnaldo Cohen playing two Liszt concertos and the world premiere of Salvador Brotons' "Sixth Symphony."

• When: 3 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday.

• Where: Skyview High School Concert Hall, 1300 N.W. 139th St., Vancouver.

• Cost: $50 reserved, $35 general, $30 for seniors and $10 for students.

• Information: 360-735-7278 or <a href="http://www.vancouversymphony.org">www.vancouversymphony.org</a>

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