Review of performance by Konstantin Lifschitz

The Washington Post, Monday, December 13, 2004; Page C05

With confidence, poetry and fingers pumping like pistons, Konstantin Lifschitz launched this season's WPAS piano series with a demanding recital Saturday at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.

Central to the fiery program were the Six Grand Etudes After Paganini by Franz Liszt; Liszt transformed Paganini's pyrotechnic violin Caprices into what can be called "extreme piano."

Watching the 28-year-old Lifschitz sashay through the opening etude, playing both a tremolo and the melody at the same time with a single hand, it was clear that the following five would present few difficulties. However, 27 minutes of finger-popping fireworks can leave your ears ringing. Far more artful was Liszt's forward-looking Ballade No. 2. Lifschitz illuminated Liszt's haunting story, beginning with ominous, rumbling scales and mysterious chords gently suspended in mist. In the stormy sections, Lifschitz hurled shards of lightning from the upper reaches of the piano.

Lifschitz displayed a sense of ownership in each piece, especially in his arrangement of Ravel's ballet "Daphnis and Chloe," based on the composer's own piano reduction. It's tempting to condemn as ineffectual any stripped-down rendition of a huge symphonic score. But Lifschitz didn't imitate an orchestra. He played up silences and colors, making Ravel's score sounded like elegantly improvised jazz.

-- Tom Huizenga