Piano series delivers once-in-a lifetime treat

Tuesday's installment of the College of Charleston School of the Arts' "International Piano Series" featured Sean Duggan, in a virtuoso performance of two of the most admired and most difficult works in the piano repertory: Johann Sebastian Bach's "Goldberg Variations," and Ludwig van Beethoven's "Diabelli Variations."

From the first publishing, Beethoven's work has been linked to Bach's. Each are about the same length: 30 variations for Bach and 33 for Beethoven. Each is a microcosm of the musical compositions of their respective eras, including dance forms (sarabande, minuet), character pieces and a variety of musical techniques.

Duggan's transversal of the two works together illustrates vividly why they are so frequently performed alone and only rarely together. Playing them together demands that the pianist be not only the master of musical styles of the 1740s but also of the 1820s, jumping from the symmetry and balance of the Enlightenment to the passion and fury of the Romantic era in the space of a grueling two-hour stint. Duggan played with brio and actually seemed to draw energy from the music, giving a soaring reading of the last three sections of the "Diabelli Variations."

After playing the "Goldberg Variations" with the energy, precision and balance demanded by the Baroque era, Duggan played the "Diabelli Variations" with the grand theatricality demanded by the music.

The large audience at the College of Charleston's Sottile Theatre seemed to appreciate that this was a once-in-a-lifetime treat.