Poom Poommachart Brings the Russians to Bangkok

Brilliant Thai pianist Poom Poommachart with a bouquet of flowers traditionally presented to an artist after a performance in Thailand.

Siam Society Auditorium.  Bangkok, Thailand.  August 7, 2013.  The brilliant young Thai pianist, Poom Prommachart, who is beginning to make his mark on the international scene, returned to his Bangkok home for the summer, and brought the Russians with him:  Medtner, Scriabin, Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff.  Perhaps this is the influence of his Russian piano teacher at the Royal College of Music in London, Dina Parakhina, with whom he gave a joint recital at Mahidol College of Music on July 31, playing the two Rachmaninoff suites for two pianos, a recital I was unable to attend.  Just how much I missed was made clear by the marvelous solo recital Poom gave in Bangkok on August 7.

Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951), roughly a contemporary of Rachmaninoff and Scriabin, is not nearly so well-known, but many pianists have played his works on the recital stage, formerly, Richter and Gillels, and currently, Sudbin and Hamelin, and there are numerous recordings of his piano music (Medtner wrote exclusively for the piano, sometimes with other instruments).  It was a real treat for me to hear, for the first time, Medtner’s Second Variations, opus 47.  It is not always easy to listen to a complex work like this theme and 16 variations, which take about 30 minutes to perform.  Fortunately, when someone as talented as Poom makes the trip first, delves deeply into the work giving it mature consideration and figuring out exactly what the music means, we can go along for the ride and enjoy it, even if it is new to us and not particularly accessible.  Each variation, to all of which Medtner supplied a name (e.g., Winged Dancers, The Threat, Enchantment) is a miniature tone poem and retains its own individual character.  Obviously difficult, this is beautiful music, sensitively and beautifully played by Poom.  I can’t say that I’m running out to listen to Medtner’s Second Variations again soon, but the experience of hearing Poom play them makes me receptive to becoming more familiar with this work. 

After two short and nicely played Scriabin preludes, Poom tackled the difficult Prokofiev Sonata No. 6, the first of Prokofiev’s three war sonatas, conceived of by the composer in 1938, before Russia entered WWII (Prokofiev returned to Russia in 1938 and never left again).  The sonata is percussive, vehement, propulsive, and hard-driving, but it is not without its softer and lighter moments, and has some of the melodic “wrong notes” characteristic of Prokofiev.  It goes without saying that this towering work from one of Russia’s two 20^th century giants (Shostakovich being the other) is no pushover.  It is so easy for the pianist to lapse into loud, louder and loudest, resulting in some undeniable moments of frisson, but ultimately into boredom during a work that takes 30 minutes to perform.  Whatever the difficulties and pitfalls of performing the 6^th might be, Poom avoided them all by bringing to this performance, not only his impeccable technique, but his deep appreciation of the music and a concept of its structure that makes it understandable.  While this sonata can and is played differently (I have recordings by Richter and Behzod Abduraimov), it is not played better.  When Poom gets his first recording contract, his Prokofiev 6^th Sonata must be on it.