Perlorming
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Pianist's "valedictory series"
CYNTHIA RAMSAY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
World-renown pianist Robert Silverman has two upcoming solo recitals at the Chan Centre at the University of British Columbia (UBC). At the concerts, people will have a chance to hear pieces that Silverman himself chose for his enjoyment in playing them, including Beethoven's 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, which Silverman describes as "an hour's worth of the most intense music-making" for the piano.
Silverman's March 16 program at the Chan Centre features Bach's Prelude and Fugue No. 4 in C-sharp Minor, Copland's Variations (1930), Liszt's Variations on a Theme of Bach Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, and the Beethoven variations. The May 11 concert includes music by Rameau, Schubert, Brahms and Scriabin.
In selecting the programs, Silverman said he thought a lot about the fiict that this is his "valedictory series," as he called it, as a iull-time faculty member of the University of British Columbia.
"I wanted to play some pieces that I like and only pieces that I really like," he said.
As well, he was interested in variations for the piano, how certain pieces influence other pieces or how the same ideas can be found in different works.
"And then the other thing is that I wanted to do some pieces ...that people in Vancouver have not heard me play," he added.
Though bom in Montreal, Silverman left when he was yoimg and, according to him, he never looked back. He knew that he wanted to live on the West Coast and he got his diance with a job at UBC. He moved to Vancouver in 1973.
Silverman has performed on stages aroimd the world and he has some 25 recordings. Asked how his being Jewish is received by audiences, especially since the beginning of the latest intifada, Silverman said that it has only come into play "east of the Ottawa ffiver and before you reach the Maritimcs."
"I cannot claim to be religious in any sense," said Silverman. "But I definitely do feel a sense
Robert Silverman
of identification with some of the values of Judaism, particularly the emphasis on study."
While Silverman will no longer be working full time at UBC, he stressed that he will continue part-time.
"I love teaching, actually, and Fd never want to totally give it up," he said.
As for other projects, Silverman said he is planning another round of Beethoven sonata cycles, including one in Washington, D.C., he has other concerts on his schedule and he has recording projects "piling up." Or-pheum Masters will soon be releasing a CD of Silverman's first performance in the solo redtal series, which took place Jan. 19 and featured the music of Liszt and Schtimann.
Individual tickets for March 16 and May 11 are $30/$23; two-concert tickets are $5Q/$38. They can be purchased through Tick-etmaster, 604-280-3311 or www.ticketmasterca. For information, call 604-822-2697 or visit www.chancentre.com. □
Haunting memories in Playland
BAILA LAZARUS EDITOR
Athol Fugard's plays are heavy at the best of times. Immersed in the political sobriety of apartheid South Afiica, the focus on themes of violence, guilt, revenge, regret and self-pity are not easy theatre fair. So it's not surprising that Playland calls upon every emotion and strength that two veteran actors - Cedl Hershler and Tom Pickett - have to offer.
In Playland, Hershler plays Gideon, a white Afrikaner who has returned from fighting against SWAPO, the South West .Mrica People's Organization, in "the operational area" - the army's term for Namibia. His memories haimt him and he has been looking for a way to wipe thou^ts of death off himself and start a new decade with more purpose and less guilt.
He meets Martinus (Pickett), a black night watchman, outside an amusement park on New Year's Eve, 1990. Gideon is intent on engaging Martinus in conversation, though Martinus has no interest in reciprocating. For a while Gideon is content to ramble on about his own life and . eventually runs off to experience
Tom Pickett as Martinus, left, and Cecil Herstiler as Gideon in Atliol Fugard's Playland i{ Pacific Tlieatre.
the amusement park's distraction. Pretty soon, though, he comes back to engage Martinus once again, until ugly truths about the characters' lives are revealed.
The play is a little frustrating to watch since the audience is kept in the dark about why Gideon is so intent on provoking Martinus to respond, even to the point of inciting Martinus to become violent. One knows that there are mysteries that both men would prefer not to discuss but it's not imtil the last quarter of the play that these stories are revealed. Thus, if s only in the latter half of the play that the ac-
tors' strengths really come out - with Hershler deftly taking his character to a near breakdown and Pickett skilfully maintaining a violence-under-control tension that soon melts into resignation, and even pity.
Once all is explained, the desperation with which Gideon has latched onto Martinus is clarified and both characters go their separate ways with the dawn.
Fugard grew up a white Afiikaner and ergoyed the privilege of advantaged citizens in an apartheid regime. But he chose a life of exploration of South Afiica and then of playwrighting, using his scripts to speak out against the apartheid regime. TTbis play demonstrates the complexities that Fugard saw in South African society and the mistake of looking at any situation in "black and white."
Playland is put on by Blind Deer Hunter/Pickett Productions and is directed by Lynna Goldhar Smith, with assistant direction by Chad Hershler (Cecil's son). It runs at Pacific 'Theatre, 1440 West 12th Ave, until March 22. Tickets range from $13 to $26. Call 604-731-5518. □
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