Boston Classical Review

Bruce Liu performed Sunday at xxx for Vivo Performing Arts. Photo: Sonja Mueller

The days grow short, as Maxwell Anderson wrote, when you reach September.

That’s even more true of New England in mid-October. And the unmistakable change of seasons lent an unexpected touch of whimsy to Bruce Liu’s recital Sunday at Groton Hill Music Center, which focused  on different times of day.

That said, the Vivo Performing Arts-presented event was more than a mere survey of the hours. Indeed, the grab-bag lineup of works seemed to be a study of European internationalism, particularly an outsider’s impressions of Spain and France.

The most substantial of the latter type, at least by title, was Bach’s French Suite No. 5. Aside from the inclusion of a Bourrée and a Loure, however, there’s nothing particularly Gallic about the set (the music wasn’t discovered until twelve years after the composer’s death and the regional label was applied posthumously).

Regardless, Liu’s take on the Bourrée was marked by exuberant freshness and the Loure sang with an appealing blend of restraint and flexibility. Those last qualities also applied to the lucid ornamentations and strong sense of the line the pianist brought to his account of the Sarabande.

In the Suite’s other up-tempo sections, Liu modeled an Olympic-level command of rhythmic energy and phrasing, especially in his crisp, shapely handling of the Courante. The concluding Gigue was a picture of rumbustious good humor and pristine counterpoint, all of it flawlessly voiced.

Style and clarity marked the afternoon’s other big nationalistic number, Liszt’s Rhapsodie espagnole. Among other things, Liu has a terrific sympathy with the Hungarian virtuoso-composer, whose output can be as astonishingly original as it sometimes is vapid: the pianist’s previous Vivo recital ended with a sensational account of the Réminiscences de Don Juan de Mozart.

The Rhapsodie is not quite as compelling a work, compositionally: it takes its time to get going and isn’t the most consistently evocative of Iberian tributes once it does. But its fireworks, when they arrive, come in all shapes, sizes, and hues.

Fittingly, one of the delights on Sunday was hearing Liu’s hairsbreadth shifts from calling down thunder to navigating featherweight filigree, all the while never losing sight of the Rhapsodie’s architecture. Its larger arguments, too, were given characterful profiles, particularly the glowing quotations of the “Jota aragonesa.” While the end result was certainly thrilling, it also seemed aimed at doing something more, as though one musical master were paying tribute to another across the centuries.

The same vibe didn’t quite carry into the afternoon’s account of Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata, in which Liu’s performance was, in the last two movements, polished perhaps to a fault. Still, the opening Adagio’s strong voicings and pointed dissonances combined with the pianist’s inward approach to hold the audience rapt.

A similar result obtained in his reading of Chopin’s first two Nocturnes. No. 1’s nebulous harmonies and vague melodic lines made a potent contrast the Bach’s Suite, while No. 2’s urgent phrasings and absorbing plays of color crafted a beautiful sonic edifice. Regrettably, the last was shattered by a blast of applause erupting before the last chord faded away.

The response seemed to throw Liu slightly and, as a result, Ravel’s Alborada del gracioso took a little while to settle. Ultimately, the interpretation found its groove and the middle episode’s shadowy turns took on an uncommon tonal depth.

Meantime, Debussy’s Rêverie and Mompou’s Glossa sobre “Au claire de lune” offered glimpses of dreamy simplicity, while Albéniz’s joyously clangorous “El Puerto” provided a blast of fresh air. So, for that matter, did the pianist’s rendition of Ligeti’s “Fanfares” Etude, whose clean-textured motoric patterns danced and swayed with a surprising degree of lyricism.

Liu’s encores—Chopin’s “Aeolian Harp” and “Black Keys” Etudes—accomplished much the same, in the process extending the musical light on this short afternoon by a few extra minutes.

Vivo Performing Arts presents violinist Geneva Lewis playing music by Mozart, Silvestrov, Weinberg, Webern, and Strauss at 3 p.m. on October 25 at Groton Hill Music Center. vivoperformingarts.org

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