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Symphony
TWIN PEAKS AND TWIN PIANOS AT THE SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
by Steve Osborn
Saturday, May 6, 2023
Symphony
ALASDAIR NEALE’S JUBILANT FAREWELL TO MARIN SYMPHONY
by Abby Wasserman
Saturday, April 22, 2023
Opera
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by Pamela Hicks Gailey
Saturday, April 15, 2023
Choral and Vocal
SPLENDID GOOD FRIDAY RUTTER REQUIEM AT CHURCH OF THE ROSES
by Pamela Hicks Gailey
Friday, April 7, 2023
Chamber
A JOURNEY THROUGH MUSICAL TIME
by Abby Wasserman
Sunday, April 2, 2023
Symphony
ORCHESTRA SHOWPIECES CLOSE SO CO PHIL'S SEASON
by Terry McNeill
Saturday, April 1, 2023
Symphony
FROM THE DANUBE TO PUERTO RICO
by Steve Osborn
Sunday, March 26, 2023
Chamber
SAKURA AND THE MUSICAL ART OF ARRANGEMENT
by Abby Wasserman
Sunday, March 12, 2023
Chamber
WEIGHTY RUSSIAN SONATAS IN MALOFEEV'S 222 GALLERY RECITAL
by Terry McNeill
Sunday, March 12, 2023
Chamber
ARRON-PARK DUO IN CAPTIVATING OAKMONT RECITAL
by Terry McNeill
Thursday, March 9, 2023
RECITAL REVIEW

Pianist Nancy Lee Harper Feb. 24 in Santa Rosa

CHOPIN BALLADES FEATURED IN CONCERTS GRAND RECITAL

by Terry McNeill
Saturday, February 24, 2018

Pianist Nancy Lee Harper made an elegant North Coast debut Feb. 24 in the Concerts Grand House Recitals series in a private Santa Rosa home.

Ms. Harper, for decades a performer and teacher in Portugal, has recently relocated to Northern California, played an all-Chopin recital that was comprehensive in repertoire and at many places thrilling. She began with an Op. Posthumous Waltz, then the Op. 43 Tarantelle, and closing the first part was the Op. 61 Polonaise-Fantasie.

The main part of the program were the great Ballades, Ops. 23, 38, 47 and 52. Each well under ten minutes, the four contain a cosmos of human emotions and virtuosic drama. Ms. Harper gave each individuality and when called for, sonic intensity. Before the pianissimo coda of the F Minor Ballade, there are three resounding fortissimo chords, two usually played staccato and the last often taken dryly with no pedal. Ms. Harper played in the Slavic way, the final chord with full pedal and then a delayed and tiny pedal lift to diminish the sound before the tumultuous sprint to the finish. A small effect yes, but only one example of her attention to interpretative details.

Ms. Harper is a scholar of Portuguese music, with many publications, and for an encore she chose Antonio Fragoso’s Notturno, a gem that is dramatic, dreamy and Chopinesque. Fragoso’s untimely death came shortly before his 21th birthday in 1918.