Piano series gets off to clean, crisp start

The first concert of the International Piano Series at the College of Charleston's School of the Arts opened Monday night with the clean, agile and expressive playing of German pianist Hartmut Sauer.

Sauer began his imaginative program with Schubert's beloved six "Moments Musicaux." With a respect for the intimate nature and beautiful melodies of each movement, he prepared his audience for the next larger work and made a connection for the composition of a distinguished melody writer of the 20th century, Lee Hoiby.

Sauer confidently performed Hoiby's technically challenging "Toccata," played largely in the extreme registers of the piano and interspersed with scales and harmonies that only a master could compose. Sauer ended the first half of the program with Hoiby's "Schubert Variations," paying homage to two great composers and building a bridge between two very different generations of musical style and aesthetic.

Sauer closed the evening with Chopin's four movement "Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58," never letting the passionate final movement dominate the clarity and elegance of his expressive performance.

There's obviously a strong interest in Charleston in pianists of this caliber, as this performance was well attended and well received. There will be four more performances in this exciting series.

For more information, visit the Web site at www.internationalpianoseries.org.