What Makes It Great? Kapilow's Musical Mind

A listener entering the Walter Reade Theater on Monday evening might logically have assumed the program consisted of music for two pianos, since a pair of Steinway grands were linked together so their players could face each other.

Actually, though, all of the music of the night was written for one piano, but often performed at two. How could this be? Because the stage was set for a lecture/demonstration/performance by that master communicator Rob Kapilow and another installment of his "What Makes It Great?" series, this night being filmed by PBS.

This year, Mr. Kapilow is concentrating on Beethoven. Most serious students of music are familiar with the Sonata No. 3 in C major since it is at about this point that they tend to abandon their chronological study of the mighty 32 sonatas. Mr. Kapilow succeeds in demystifying this complex material.

The man has two innate qualities that make him great. First, he possesses that rare gift of gab and a corollary personality that is instantly likable. Second, he has the kind of mind that can construct paragraphs to explain to both sophisticate and novitiate the inside baseball aspects of classical music. When the subject is Beethoven, there is a lot to explore.

Beethoven famously said he "learned nothing from Haydn," but Mr. Kapilow pointed out the devices the then-25-year-old quickly appropriated in this set of sonatas classified as opus 2. Sitting at his piano, he demonstrated the false recapitulation of the opening Allegro con brio while the featured soloist of the evening, Chamber Music Society member Adam Neiman, performed longer passages. This two keyboard arrangement was especially instructive, as Mr. Kapilow played passages he had composed as alternatives while Mr. Neiman intoned the Beethovenian originals. The lecturer also reminded us of a movement's original passages as the recitalist simultaneously demonstrated their intricate reprises.

Mr. Kapilow reminds me of another fine educator, the sainted Karl Haas. Also a diminutive man, Mr. Haas taught several generations of music lovers on the radio. At one moment in Mr. Neiman's traversal of the first movement, Mr. Kapilow screamed out, "Oh, no!" in response to Beethoven's refusal to conclude the piece, moving instead into another line of development through modulation. I can still hear Mr. Haas yelling over his piano transcription of the last 20 measures of the Eroica, "Will you just go already!"

There is always a eureka moment in one of Mr. Kapilow's presentations and this day it came at the very beginning of Mr. Neiman's realization of the entire sonata. Beethoven begins to develop his opening theme in the very first four measures, some of the meatiest writing for a solo instrument prior to Anton Webern. Thanks to Rob Kapilow, we could all appreciate this stroke of genius live in performance.

Mr. Neiman's unaccompanied presentation of the piece was excellent. He has very solid technical credentials and a rather cool classical detachment perfect for this mathematical essay. By the time he reached the final Allegro assai, the audience was thoroughly prepared to appreciate his fine navigation of such difficult passagework, including the punishing triple trills. Mr. Neiman also has an enviable singing line and produced some of the most steady arpeggio work in memory. His strong sense of propulsion was an exciting prelude to Beethoven's entropy in the final few measures. It was as if time itself had come to an end.

Mr. Kapilow studied with Nadia Boulanger — although he looks as if he must have been no more than 8 when he did so — and he paraphrased her observation that genius cannot help but be original. When Beethoven imitated a style, Mr. Kapilow indicated, he was by definition being groundbreaking. The Adagio of this sonata is incredibly beautiful and futuristic even as it follows all of the rules already in place at the time. In Mr. Neiman's hands, the themes are a bit ghostly and quite modern sounding.

One more thing about Mr. Kapilow: Like another beloved figure from the past, he seems to be a superb pianist. However, in the best Victor Borge tradition, he never actually finishes any movement of music (and he is also genuinely funny). His audience would love to hear him start a work and see it through to the end. Mr. Kapilow knows this and, being a savvy entertainer, will never let it happen.