The Wickenburg Sun, Arizona
Magnificent entertainment with a bit of education thrown in
were the order of the day at Dan Franklin Smith’s piano presentation on Nov. 18 Friends of Music concert series in the Community Center.
Smith chose a theme of variations for his concert with compositions that exemplified how composers develop their works around a motif. He pointed out that before the copyright era, composers would “borrow” themes from other composers and make them their own. Such was the case of his opening piece by Czerny, who didn’t credit Schubert as his theme source for his Viennese Waltz variations. In his remarks, Smith suggested that “Expanding Universes” might be a title for his concert presentation. This would be an apt title especially for Rachmaninoff’s “Variations on a Theme of Corelli,” of which Rachmaninoff came up with no less than 22 variations. Listeners’ awareness and appreciation were expanded in recognition of the composer’s musical imagination.
In his playing, Smith produced excellent voicing and tonality. To the uninitiated, that refers to the relationships of the softs and louds. Listeners would have noticed musical passages of firm intensity and then contrasting passages of light, gentle playfulness. The melodic lines stood out with the harmonics appropriately supporting. And speaking of contrasts, local pianist Florence McInturff noted that Smith is of the German school of pianists who let their hands produce the action rather than their whole bodies getting into the act.
On the whole, the appreciative audience was treated to an awe-inspiring concert that was elegantly played.
—The Wickenburg Sun, November 21, 2007