Review: Dmitri Shteinberg

April 13, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond

The Russian-born pianist Dmitri Shteinberg, who in recent years has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, is a musician of abundant technique, considerable rhetorical flair and nervy temperament. Among the pianists now at work in Richmond, Shteinberg is probably the most vivid, fiery artistic personality. His technical gifts and musical qualities received a thorough airing in a program that explored Robert Schumann's influence on the young Johannes Brahms.

The best-known selection was the Op. 10 set of four ballades by Brahms, who was also represented in the Scherzo, Op. 4, and "Variations on a Theme by Schumann," Op. 9. The Schumann pieces were the six intermezzi, Op. 4, and "Gesänge der Frühe" ("Five Morning Songs"), Op. 133.

Much of this music veers between downcast or emotionally ambivalent reverie and manic excitement, and Shteinberg’s interpretations emphasized those extremes of expression and tempo.

Not until the central variations of Brahms’ Op. 9, more than halfway through the program, did he play at a true moderato tempo; and throughout the recital he seemed most engaged when scores called for whiplash accents and expressive volatility, as in the first and third of the Schumann intermezzi and the third of the Brahms ballades.

Shteinberg’s lyrical voice found its best outlets in the fourth of the Schumann intermezzi and fourth of the "Morning Songs."