PIANIST BALANCES ZEST, LYRICISM
Miami Herald , Saturday, July 21, 2001
JAMES ROOS, jroos@herald.com
Edition: Final , Section: Living , Page: 4E

CONCERT REVIEW

All too often, classical pianists who ``go slumming'' in popular music as, for instance, Gershwin's, show off in fast passages and slow down the lyrical ones with affected rubato that makes you wish they'd get on with the show. But Thomas Tirino, the American who has made best-selling CDs of piano music by Cuba's immortal Ernesto Lecuona, strikes just the right balance of zest and tender lyricism that does these pieces more justice than pop pianists who jazz up the originals and make them sound like nightclub music.

Lecuona was a cosmopolitan composer and virtuosic pianist who knew all about Liszt, for example, and could and did write difficult passagework. He also knew how to write in a traditional, more formal Spanish style yet also turned out colorful Afro-Cuban dances - several of which Tirino played at his generous Thursday night recital for a packed Coral Gables Congregational Church.
He gave the audience a flavorful sampling, opening with the dramatic Zambra Gitana, embuing it with proud fire, then turned to the majestic Ante El Escorial, which had a nostalgic aura reminiscent of Lecuona's own RCA recording, which Tirino surely knows. On the program's second half, there were seldom-heard Lecuona waltzes - Vals Apasionado, Crisantemo and Vals Maravill, then a dashing Danza Negra, evocative La Comparsa plus the charmingly seductive dance in Three-quarter Time.

The Andalucia Suite culminated in a terrifically powerful and classy performance of Malaguena that turned the trick of making that overipe chestnut sound amazingly fresh. Between the Lecuona segments came a crisp centerpiece of Falla's Andaluza from Cuatros Piezas Espa nolas, Granados' sensuous and languorous Maiden and the Nightingale and subtly sophisticated pieces by Joaquin Nin, one of Lecuona's teachers.

There were some tangy encores, including an offbeat Lecuona mazurka with snazzy glissandos and a recent discovery - a delightful little piece about a child and grandmother. In all this, Tirino played almost spotlessly and produced a solid, sparkling tone on the church's Boesendorfer grand - a gift of Donald and B. Landon Carlin - and an asset to any pianist, certainly to Tirino who has done a wonderful thing by reviving virtually Lecuona's entire output for piano with a flair and sophistication truly worthy of the composer.

Copyright © 2001, The Miami Herald

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© 2002 The Miami Herald Publishing Co.
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