By Joan Reinthaler, Published: November 6
Marouan Benabdallah has technique to spare and a soul that at this time, early in his career, seems most attuned to music of the early 20th century. The young pianist, born in Morocco and trained in Hungary, made his Kennedy Center debut Saturday under the auspices of the Washington Performing Arts Society’s Hayes Piano Series.
The program made its strongest impression in its encore, a set of short pieces from Bartok’s “Mikrokosmos” that he played with crisp authority and well-balanced sonorities. Benabdallah said he had just been practicing them, so he thought he’d do them as an encore — it sounded like a casual last-minute decision — but he should include them on his programs regularly.
He approached the Bartok pieces playfully and with a rhythmic incisiveness that brought out both their simplicity and their sophistication, as if he were having a good time and enjoyed playing them.
The second half of the program was mostly short French and Spanish pieces he played with no pauses between them.
Readings of the Debussy “La Soiree dans Grenade,” a set of three movements from Ravel’s “Mirrors” and two short, unpretentious pieces by Nabil Benabdeljalil were not as lighthearted as the Bartok, but Benabdallah’s keyboard agility, even touch and ability to highlight a single voice in the midst of a complicated texture gave them a glow of Gallic lightness.
He powered through pieces by Albeniz and Granados with rhythmic energy and a compelling sense of momentum.
To play Schubert well, you have to sound as though you love his music, and although there was commitment in Benabdallah’s performance of the opening Schubert G Sonata, D. 894, there wasn’t love.
It needed a broader dynamic spectrum — in particular, softer softs. It needed more rhythmic give and flexibility, and it needed a sense that he was listening closely to the music, not just playing it correctly. It needed more of what the Bartok had, a feeling that Benabdallah was enjoying himself.
Reinthaler is a freelance writer.
