Pianist offers spirited recital

BANGOR – “I’m shy,” confided 27-year-old pianist Konstantinos Papadakis, speaking barely above a whisper as he greeted his capacity audience Monday evening in the intimate Kominsky Auditorium in Peabody Hall at Husson College. When his listeners laughed encouragingly, he continued with his comments about the program to come, then sat down, bowed his head for a moment, and began to play a stunning and memorable recital.

Shyness vanished as this cherubic-faced young man launched the breathlessly soft signature melody of Beethoven’s “Sonata in C minor, Opus 27, No. 2,” popularly known as “Moonlight Sonata.” It was ever so gentle – a pianissimo to cherish – and delicate without being fragile. The tempo was just right, neither hurried nor, as so often is the case, stretched out. Each note had its own space and still the phrasing was fluid and smooth.

If Papadakis began with something bravura and attention-grabbing, it could not have testified more immediately and eloquently to his boldness, assurance and artistic authority. The thunder and blazes were to come, of course, in the second and third movements of the Beethoven sonata and in the rest of the program. The “moonlight” mood that inspired German music critic Rellstab to this flight of hyperbole almost 200 years ago, lasts only for the few minutes of the opening adagio sostenuto. After that came the glorious, powerful passages which revealed the soloist’s strength, velocity and grandeur of tone.

When the music of Frederic Chopin is played well, it reminds us how much the Polish composer loved the piano. That was much in our ears and hearts as Papadakis embraced “Fantasia, Opus 49 in F major.” His playing conveyed that enchantment of tone, of phrase, of ringing climax in a beautifully unified reading.

Italy’s Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) lived long, worked hard, and must have had a lot of fun composing his several hundred sonatas for harpsichord. They’re full of musical pranks, ornaments and melody, and are intriguing to play and to hear.

Again Papadakis transformed himself, capturing not only the Scarlatti spirit but suggesting the “pinging” attack of the harpsichord via the piano. And if further evidence of the soloist’s virtuosity were needed, it came with the three movements from Igor Stravinsky’s music for the ballet “Petruchka.” You almost could see Nijinsky dancing the role of the uppet hero at the world premiere in Paris in 1911. The piano rang like a carillon in those exuberantly dissonant chords.

And speaking of ringing pianos, the piano in Kominsky Auditorium is the finest I’ve listened to in years. John E. Kilgore Jr., a Husson trustee, purchased the 7-foot Steinway studio grand, used, from a pianist and teacher in New York City about 30 years ago. It already had been renovated once at that time and has been carefully worked on as needed and maintained ever since. It is a gift to the college from Kilgore. Its ringing tone is a delight, its power is perfect for Kominsky Auditorium and would do very nicely for a large concert hall as well, if not quite the tonal volume of a 9-foot Steinway concert grand or the imperial 96-key, 11-foot Boesendorfer. Husson College piano recitals are a gift to Husson from Kilgore.

Papadakis was born and educated in Greece. After further studies abroad, including in Moscow, he entered Boston University. There he studied with Professor Anthony di Bonaventura. Papadakis is on the faculty at Boston University, where he is one of only three persons honored by the Artists’ Diploma since the award was initiated there a decade ago.

The two remaining concerts of the Husson College piano recitals will feature Horia Mihail at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 25; and Walter Nowick at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 9. Each concert is held in Kominsky Auditorium, with a reception after in the Husson College library. Tickets are $20 for each concert and can be purchased by calling Julie Green at 941-7129.