Scaling the Himalayas of Piano Music
Formidable artists are flooding the Bay Area scene these days, the second one this week being another pianist, Natasha Paremski. She bit off one of the most demanding programs imaginable, all tucked into her incendiary hour of earthquake magnitude linking both Ravel’s “Gaspard de la nuit” and Balakirev’s “Islamey,” a dual feat comparable to conquering both poles in the same week. All with supersonic speed and Olympic power. The tone-painting of Ravel’s opus is well-known, comprising a sea-sprite (Ondine, with…