Gualdi delights by unifying diverse works

The International Piano Series at the College of Charleston presented Italian pianist Paolo Andre Gualdi at the Sottile Theatre on Tuesday. His concert was exciting and difficult, featuring contrastive sonatas by Beethoven and Bartok, and two-tone poems by Liszt and Ravel.

Gualdi is an elegant performer, able to find the correct unifying points in each of the diverse works. There was scattered applause after the first movement, "Allegro con brio" of Beethoven's "Waldstein" sonata No. 26. But by the Bartok "Sonata for piano," Sz. 80-BB.88 (1926), and for the rest of the concert, he had his audience under his complete control.

Gualdi's dramatic manipulation of the silences between the movements of the works by Bartok and Ravel is the best justification I have ever heard or, technically, not heard for the rule: No clapping between the movements of a musical work.

Beethoven is a composer who seems to delight in driving his audience to distraction in works such as "Waldstein." In closing sections of the first and third movements, he repeats the main musical theme again and again in shorter and shorter, louder and louder phrases. All very romantic, and when played by an artist as gifted as Gualdi you really almost have to sit on your hands to keep from applauding until the end.

Gualdi is adept at underscoring the musical essence of each work: the folk tunes loved by Bartok, the surging waves that Liszt musically dumps on his "Sr. Francoise de Paule" and the delicacy of Ravel's "Gaspard de la nuit."

Gualdi's performance was another dynamic installment in a series now in its 18th season.