Missouri Classical Music News and Notes

It's hard to imagine two pianists who inhabit more starkly different worlds than Anthony de Mare and Murray Perahia, who played recitals here on Wednesday and Thursday. . . .

Each recital had its rewards, though both sent me into the night feeling unsettled. Perahia, playing on the Harriman-Jewell Series at the Folly, displayed his signature poetic touch and red-meat fortissimo — banging as ferociously in Bach or Chopin as in Brahms. . . .

De Mare is not nearly the pianist that Perahia is, but his recital was one of the most courageous local programs in recent history — an entertaining traversal of American iconoclasm, bookended by works of Frederic Rzewski. . . .

The new work, Mobberley’s “Phenomena,” mixed manipulated sounds on playback with live piano and vocal interjections from the pianist. It was intricately crafted but felt sprawling and over-stuffed with disparate elements.