Over the last couple of decades, Chair of the New England Conservatory piano department Bruce Brubaker has organized multi-day tributes to the piano works of several composers. Some highlights include 2008 Messiaen, 2009 Haydn (every piano sonata), 2010 Chopin, 2011 Liszt, 2012 John Cage, 2015 Scriabin (every piano work), 2020 Beethoven (every piano work), and 2024 Ives. A three-night survey of all the piano works of Fauré ended at Jordan Hall on Tuesday night, having altogether offered 36 works of Fauré plus six of his friends and colleagues in the hands of 36 pianists (1/3 of the department, and one Prep School student).  

Brubaker opened the concert with a very warm tribute to the late Gabriel Chodos [see BMInt’s article HERE]:

We dedicate this project of New England Conservatory’s piano department to the memory of Gabriel Chodos. Mr. Chodos began teaching here in 1974. He was an esteemed member of our faculty. He served as chair of the piano department for decades. Gabriel Chodos was a thoroughly ethical, moral human being. Those qualities imbued his piano playing with a sincere honesty that is rare. He was a fine craftsman of piano playing. But, hearing him play music, the overwhelming impression we received, that I received, was of his devotion. 

I first heard Mr. Chodos in New York City. He played Schubert’s last Sonata in B-flat Major, very slowly, impeccably, lovingly. That kind of performance told the story of Gabriel Chodos’s relation to the task of being a musician, a performer of those sacred texts. He cherished music. He wanted others to feel as deeply. To love as deeply as he loved. 

He was generous to me. When I began teaching at NEC, I must have seemed a bit brash, a little disruptive. Mr. Chodos listened respectfully. And we talked about a lot of things! So many things… I know he was skeptical of some of the repertoire projects I suggested for NEC piano students. After our concert series including every piano sonata written by Franz Joseph Haydn, I remember clearly that Gabriel said to me: “The headline is: ‘Chodos changes his mind about Haydn.’” I have not changed my mind about Gabriel Chodos. He remains a pillar of strength. A strength based on his belief that for some fleeting moments music might make our world more beautiful, more meaningful, more humane. To his memory!

Then Bairun Liu seated himself at the sonorous new American Steinway for a lovely account of Fauré’s Theme and Variations, Op. 73. Noble and touching if a bit salon-like, the theme and 11 variations occasioned some very satisfying playing, as Liu brought out the warmth, sprightliness, and offbeat accents with disarming simplicity and honesty.

Rather than thoroughly describing each of the evening’s 23 works and awarding gold starts to the 11 pianists last night, I am happy to begin with the facts and then proceed to cite more highlights.

Fauré: Theme and Variations, Op. 73 (1895): Bairun Liu (teacher: Meng-Chieh Liu)
Nadia Boulanger: Vers la vie nouvelle (1917): Sam Xu  (HaeSun Paik)
Nadia Boulanger: Three Pieces for Piano (1914): Melanie Liu (NEC Prep)
Alfredo Casella: A notte alta, Op. 30 (1917): Geonwoo Yi (Alexander Korsantia and Alessio Bax)
George Enescu: Carillon nocturne, Op. 18, No. 7 (1916): Wanjoong Kim (Bruce Brubaker)
Fauré: Nine Preludes, Op. 103 (1909-10)
   No. 1 in D-flat Major, Andante molto moderato: Nan Ni
   No. 2 in C-sharp Minor, Allegro: Nan Ni (Alessio Bax and Bruce Brubaker)
   No. 3 in G Minor, Andante: April Lee
   No. 4 in F Major, Allegretto moderato: April Lee (Alessio Bax)
   No. 5 in D Minor, Allegro: Geonwoo Yi
   No. 6 in E-flat Minor, Andante: Geonwoo Yi (see above)
   No. 7 in A Major, Andante moderato: Annie Ye
   No. 8 in C Minor, Allegro: Annie Ye
   No. 9 in E Minor, Adagio: Annie Ye (Alessio Bax)
Charles Koechlin: Five Dances for Ginger Rogers (1937-39): 
              Haolun Sun and Eric Ziyuan Qu (Alexander Korsantia)
   L’élan
   Danse lente
   Les tourbillons (4 hands)
   La danse sous les étoiles (4 hands)
   Final/Apothéose de la danse (4 hands)
Florent Schmitt: Ballade de la neige (1896): Sam Xu (see above)
Ravel: Jeux d’eau (1901): Sammi Chen (Minsoo Sohn)

Pianist Sam Xu brought out slow and profound, haunting raindrop dreaminess in Nadia Boulanger’s Vers la vie nouvelle.

NEC Prep student Melanie Liu confidently dispatched the rapid Debussian passages and birdlike brightness in Nadia Boulanger’s Three Pieces for Piano

Geonwoo Yi embraced the many moods of Alfredo Casella” A notte alta, Op. 30, including a wonderfully ancient sounding tune over a peppery ostinato, a deeply sad anthem, and he reveled in some Golliwogesque-capades.

Wanjoong Kim took us to a most mystical and introspective place in George Enescu’s Carillon nocturne, Op. 18, No. 7. Soft bass bells tolled at the start and continuous changes ensued with impeccable attention to weighting and voicing. Slow, patient nostalgia, a brief sparkling episode, marching octaves and a Clair de Lune-ish finish. This was a very engaging traversal.

Nan Ni lifted our spirits in Fauré Preludes nos 1 and 2, April Lee essayed 3 and four with masterful shading.

Annie Ye impressed in the 7, 8, and 9 with a strong force of personality and ability to knock off the Scarbo like Allegro…or was it Islamey-esque?

Charles Koechlin’s Five Dances for Ginger Rogers (some for two pianos) didn’t fit into the sound world of the concert event even though Koechlin’s friendship with Fauré made the set look good on paper. Ginger and Fred would not have been able to summon enough energy to keep up with the relentless demands posed by the very active ministrations of Haolun Sun and Eric Ziyuan Qu. NEC’s new lovely new American Steinway made its decade-old German partner sound harsh and brittle by comparison.

Sam Xu made us take notice of Florent Schmitt’s Ballade de la neige. “A forlorn sky, a low horizon and the slow, monotonous falling of snow” Fast and rhapsodic in the rhythmic complexities, also luminous and singing, his elegant pianism ended in a gorgeous pppp.

Sammi Chen shimmered in Ravel’s familiar Jeux d’eau; impish and fleet, very even in runs and perfectly pitched, she spun out impressionistic filigree which rose to the tallest of fountains before arpeggiating into a quiet pool.

Notice to stagehands: Please don’t wear clomping wooden high heels, and please wear gloves when moving high gloss pianos. The new instrument already looks gooey with fingerprints.

And Bruce, some year how about a reenactment of Anton Rubinstein’s famous seven-consecutive-concert history of the piano recital  [HERE] …all delivered from memory? And you could challenge your students to come up with an eighth featuring music after 1900?

Lee Eiseman is the publisher of the Intelligencer