Michael Reckord, Gleaner Writer

Dr Teresa Walters - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

After listening to a recital of the works of acclaimed classical music composers performed by a universally admired pianist, some students doing an associate degree programme in the performing arts were left unmoved.

"I don't know anything about piano playing," said one, "so I don't know if it was good or bad, and I didn't feel anything."

The statement was made at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Sunday evening, after a recital of music by Bach-Busoni, Rachmaninoff, Lili Boulanger and Franz Liszt, given by concert pianist Dr Teresa Walters.

Classical music

If Dahlia Repole, the principal of the young man's school, Excelsior Community College (ECC), had heard his statement, she would undoubtedly have recommitted herself to her task of trying to spread the love of classical music in the institution and, more generally, Jamaica.

Meeting that objective, she had said half-an-hour earlier, was one of the two reasons that the college sponsored the recital, in collaboration with the Jamaica Methodist District. The other reason, she said, was to launch the ECC Foundation.

The foundation, which, Repole said, was "vital for the sustained development of the college and its main stakeholders, the students", has a target sum of $115 million to be reached in five years.

It is designed to help provide the college with additional physical and technological facilities, equipment and teaching materials and to boost its human resources.

Proposals include those for the expansion of the college campuses on Camp Road, Kingston, and Wesley Grove, St Thomas, the construction of a classroom block on the Mountain View campus, the establishment of information technology facilities in every department and the development of various community empowerment programmes.

Financial patronage

Described as "one of the world's most significant pianists", Dr Walters has received financial patronage from a benefactor who will provide the greater part of her concert fee at each of five Methodist affiliated colleges and universities during the 2007-2008 academic year. The ECC is one of the selected five.

Before tackling the music of the four composers on Sunday evening, Dr Walters introduced the composers and spoke about each chosen piece. This strategy might have been appreciated by even the more knowledgeable music lovers in the larger-than-expected audience, and would surely have served the less knowledgeable well.

Introducing her first item, Busoni's version of Bach's Chaconne in D minor, Dr Walters said that Bach wrote about "the world's deepest thoughts and feelings". She proceeded to play the piece, a basically gentle one with a strong, dramatic ending, with a sense of showmanship which the audience quickly came to recognise as being characteristic.

As she played, her fingers undulating over the grand piano's keys, she often raised high both body and hands to emphasise a musical statement or to exert more force on the instrument.

Great performance

In other words, her performance was more than mere piano playing; it called on one to watch as well as listen to her. At the same time, such was her artistry, a sightless person would have found her music alone exquisite.

Her spirituality was clear, both in her playing and in her words to the audience. So it was no surprise to one organiser to learn that Dr Walters prayed before she went onstage.

"This is my first time in your beautiful island," she said as she waited for latecomers to be seated after the first item. "The mountains surprised me. You're really blessed with a beautiful geography."

Dr Walters said that Rachmaninoff, who was, like his music, "elegant and powerful", wrote 24 preludes. The two she was playing that evening, Prelude in G Major, Op 32, No five, and Prelude in G-sharp minor, Op 32, No 12 - were among her favourites.

Boulanger, she said, was in Rome on a prestigious music scholarship when she wrote the pieces on the programme, D'un Vieux Jardin (An Ancient Garden), D'un Jardin Clair (A Sunny Garden), and Cortege (Procession). The composer died at 24, but the more than 50 works she left behind showed "her genius".

Admonishment

In part two of the recital, Dr Walters, somewhat of a specialist on Liszt, played several pieces by that composer, mainly music based on three of Petrarch's sonnets and Canticle of the Sun of St Francis of Assisi. Before starting the prelude to the canticle, she quoted St Francis' words of praise to God, ending: "Let all creation praise and bless the Lord".

The generally gentle prelude and the more forceful and varied canticle itself took up the final 20 minutes of the programme. The audience's applause was enthusiastic and Repole reported later that she was pleased.

She should have been. The first step of her stated journey had been taken.