Mozart Conquers in La Pintana

As far as we know, Mozart's Complete Piano Sonatas have never been performed together in Chile. But for Gustavo Miranda - who has been determined to thoroughly cover the best pianistic repertoire of the last three centuries for local audiences - the idea very naturally occurred to him when he met the mayor of La Pintana, Claudia Pizarro, who was able to gather support to complete and inaugurate, in March of 2018, the architecturally attractive, with good acoustics and lighting, Teatro Municipal, and the executive director of the Corporación Cultural of La Pintana, Fernando Saavedra, who is also the conductor of the Orquesta Juvenil of that commune, which made a successful tour in Paris last November.

Miranda knew of those accomplishments and, born and raised in neighboring Puente Alto, he told them that he dreamed of playing in La Pintana and that he wanted to do so with a historic performance. The theater has, as of a couple of years, a Yamaha CX piano, manufactured in the 70's but well-maintained, that was waiting for a virtuoso at the level of this Chilean interpreter, who was educated at the Universidad Católica and the Juilliard School of Music in New York, to make it shine.

The series of three concerts, which began on Monday, will include 18 sonatas which Mozart wrote for piano between the ages of 18 and 33. Although, as Miranda has himself pointed out, this collection does not envelope a radical stylistic transformation - Mozart is steadfast in his balanced taste, with clear, direct, and original ideas - there is variety of character, complexity, and magnitude among them.

For the performance on Monday, the pianist grouped together six pieces according to a natural progression in their tonalities, that very well could be as if they were a movement of the same sonatas: No. 7 in C Major, K. 309 (1777); No. 14 in C Minor, K. 457 (1784); No. 12 in F Major, K. 312 (1783); No. 16 in C Major, K. 545, "Sonata faciles" (1788); No. 10 in D Major, K. 330 (1783) and No. 5 in G Major, K. 283 (1774).

The public, made up of senior residents of La Pintana (who arrived on municipal buses and kindly taken care of at each moment by the officials in charge,) adults, youths, and children, were won over from the very beginning and, after applauding the Allegro con spirito of Sonata No. 7, they understood, immediately and without reproach from those assistants who sometimes like to silence and humiliate, that each of these classical pieces were composed by three parts that create one whole and that, because of that, they are only applauded at the end.

Among the many successes of an exultant Miranda, without fear of speed, volume, nor the generous use of medal through which he achieved lightness in the Rondo of Sonata No. 7, which is indicated as Allegretto grazioso, and the elegant sincerity to finish it; the serious drama at the opening of No. 14 - along with No. 8, the only ones written in minor keys - and the immersion in the central Adagio to return to the drama with an insistent motif; the warmth of the chord sequences in the Allegro of No. 12, the delicacy of the Adagio that follows that, and the joy without fuss of the Allegro of No. 5. To play Mozart as Miranda did requires experience in order to, without losing simplicity, delve into its depths. Very good.

In a brief speech before the music, Mayor Pizarro, who grew up in La Pintana - which has been stigmatized by poverty and insecurity - said that she, at 59 years of age, and her generation - and she repeated - had never had the opportunity to attend a series of performances like this in their own commune. However, thankfully, with the award-winning accomplishments of the Municipal Cultural Corporation, La Pintana was finally in the news for good reasons. Accompanied by her grandson, she demonstrated that her commitment is genuine. She attended with interest, stayed until the end, and like all the attendees, very touched, gave a long standing applause.