AN UNLIKELY STAR RETURNS TO HIS HOME GALAXY    
                                              By Paul Hertelendy 
        artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music
                                                                 Week of May 1-8, 2006
                                                                  Vol. 8, No. 96
<>            SAN JOSE---For pianists, we have had at one extreme, the late Serge Rachmaninoff of Russia. At the other, thirtyish Jon Nakamatsu of San Jose.
           Both can or could make beautiful music. Rachmaninoff, with the giant hands, great power, chandelier-rattling concertos. Nakamatsu, the diminutive, soft-spoken artist, with finesse, fluidity, even chamber music in his fine-etched satchel.  And he has never let his small hands stand in his way.
           Happily, the music world has found room for both.
           Even though he might have been the darkest horse of all time in such international contests, Nakamatsu won the 1997 Cliburn Competition gold medal, one of the most publicized and lucrative awards in the world of 88 keys. He has been playing piano concertos all over the map since then. The thirtysomething artist also made time to return home for an evening of unfamiliar chamber music, though almost hidden at the keyboard behind five woodwind players April 30.
          He has a knack for seamlessly integrating with the players of the moment. His dynamics are varied, his lyricism unsurpassed, and he is quite happy when shunning the limelight.
            Chamber music, after all, is a team sport.
            It became obvious very quickly why Nakamatsu was also given the chamber-music award at the 1997 Cliburn with the unfolding of the Sextet by Ludwig Thuille from the 1880s. This is a rich, quasi-orchestral, late-romantic opus by a Munich composer. Thuille was heavily influenced by Brahms stylistically with his deep piano parts, dominant horn role, and expansive melodiousness. Thuille had the imagination to avoid getting us bogged down in the dense structure---a half-hour long, the four-movement piece fairly flies along. And the pianist interacted with the Stanford Wind Quintet as if there were some longterm collaboration.
            (Nakamatsu had indeed attended Stanford, but not in music. He became a high-school German teacher. He came out of nowhere to win the Cliburn, trading in his grammar for growing a keyboard career. Asked what he told his German class after the Cliburn, Nakamatsu quipped, "Auf Wiedersehen!")
            He also joined the SWQ in the Poulenc Sextet, a restless piece of explosive energy with a boulevadier's panache. They set a near-frenetic pace in the outer movements, where the writing bore similarities to the French composer's much better known Piano Concerto. The piquant harmonies distinguish the work of this elegant Frenchman, who liked to wear his musical hat rakish and askew, just enough. The net effect: The Champs Elysees on speed---eye-catching, ear-catching, and, yes, sexy too. 
          The SWQ, which plays better than most faculty ensembles you'd run into and deliberately chooses inventive modern programs, rounded things out with Ibert's Three Short Pieces and  "Aires Tropicales" by the Cuban-born Paquito d'Rivera, 57, an attractive bundle of Latin dances. All these works were  20th century.
          Why program Thuille? First of all, the piece really works. Then, as hornist Lawrence Regent explained, "We have a dearth of meaty 19th-century compositions" for wind quintets.
          All of the regular members of the SWQ, which has been going for two decades, are on the Stanford Univ. faculty. In this concert, Peter Lemberg filled in for its regular oboist, James Matheson.
          Woodwind quintets bear a cross, never achieving the popularity of string ensembles. In part, there's the repertory problem. Perhaps it's the reedier, cooler sound. Then, there's the reason why woodwinds are tucked behind  the strings in orchestras:  Seeing the players having  clear their instruments of accumulated saliva a dozen times per concert  has its visual/aesthetic drawbacks.
             The program at Le Petit Trianon was given by the S.J. Chamber Music Society in its busiest weekend ever. The day before it had done once again featured its distinctive "Call and Response" concert, with a world premiere (this time, by George Tsontakis) responding to works of Beethoven played by the Cypress String Quartet.
                San Jose Chamber Music Society, with touring ensembles. Next program: Sept. 24. Le Petit Trianon, San Jose. For info: (408) 286-5111, or go online.
        ©Paul Hertelendy 2006
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            Paul Hertelendy has been covering the dance and modern-music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area with relish -- and a certain amount of salsa -- for years.
     These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never weakly) will focus on dance and new musical creativity in performance, with forays into books (by authors of the region), theater and recordings by local artists as well.
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