Pianist Lawrence Sarabi

HOMETOWN PIANIST HERO SARABI PLAYS TO LARGE HEALDSBURG AUDIENCE

Lawrence Sarabi, a 19-year old pianist now studying in Singpore, played a Dec. 14 concert in Healdsburg's Raven Theater to benefit an injured friend of the artist, Honza Ripa.

I have followed the pianist’s career in recent years with interest, and with the audience of 500 was looking to hear if Mr. Sarabi had fallen victim to what some call the “Lang-Lang Syndrome,” where everything is played fast and loud! The actual playing on the program has changed from a recent San Rafael recital and Mr. Sarabi’s videos on YouTube. However, to misquote a Chinese aphorism: “the rice was not cooked.”

The pianist began with Beethoven’s Sonata in C, Op. 2, No. 3, one of the three dedicated to Haydn. What is often overlooked is this work was written during the time Beethoven was a young pianist, composing for himself and his virtuosic abilities. But this sonata is much more than virtuosity, its first movement having many themes and an unusual ending cadenza. It uses compositional techniques not found until the much later fifth piano concerto in E Flat. In its second movement, written in E Major, a key very far from C, a bass line foreshadows Schubert's Unfinished Symphony and in the fourth movement, a rondo, one episode looks forward to Brahms!

The opening Allegro con brio was characterized by loud, undifferentiated staccatos, unconventional (romantic?) retards, chords which often were pounded rather than drawn from the piano, and pedaling which amounted to tapping time and often did not support the harmonic structure. While there is often room for interpretation, there should be some differentiation between, say, eighth note and quarter note staccati. Mr. Sarabi started to hit his stride with the second movement as his tone became richer and he began to utilize the piano’s resources.

The third movement (Scherzo) is marked allegro but was played presto. The minore (the trio section) is not marked with a tempo change, but was played even more quickly than the first part of this movement. The fauxbourdon chords in the fourth movement, Allegro assai, were performed with precision and crispness. Lawrence’s trills were outstanding towards the end of this movement. What was largely missing was the calando and the rallentando a few measures before the music’s end.

Following the Beethoven were numbers 1 (Intermezzo) and 4 (Rhapsodie) from Brahms’s Klavierstücke, Op. 119. The Intermezzo brought forth the gorgeous sound and is but two pages in length. But what a kaleidoscope of pianism! There was subtlety, there was the bringing out sub-melodies, there was Brahms. The Rhapsodie, falling in the shadow of the preceding performance, was not yet a mature interpretation of this autumnal masterwork.

The twenty- four Preludes of Chopin, Op. 28, concluded the program, and Mr. Sarabi was at home with these jewels of Chopin’s genius. His right hand passage work and scales were secure. For the most part, the performance was quite good with rich tone and clarity of line. The artist asked the audience not to applaud following each of the preludes, but to wait until the end.

One encore was offered, Chopin’s dramatic and powerful Ballade in G minor, Op. 23. Mr. Sarabi’s performance of this venerable work was passionate but would have benefited by a closer reading of the score, particularly with regard to rests, fingerings, and tempi. The audience loved it and rose to its feet in appreciation.