When Carolyn Halsted appeared in the Crowell Hall on Sunday afternoon for her piano recital, she was all alone without even a page-turner. Yet her clarity and musical expressiveness, which developed toward the end of the recital, aroused curiosity among the audiences.
Her engagement with world music, including but not limited to her master’s degree studies at Wesleyan, might have expanded the scope of her musical interpretation by bringing different cultural characteristics. She has taught in Chennai, India, and her repertoire represented composers from Italy, Germany, Argentina, and the United States from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. She was quick in adjusting her style and touch to present the contrast of moods in each piece, giving a distinctive character to each chunk of her recital.
The recital opened with the five sonatas of Scarlatti. As the pieces were originally written for a Portuguese princess who later became a queen of Spain, the sonatas were reminiscent of southern Europe and Spanish dances. The second sonata in D minor, K. 141, in particular, exhibited Spanish character, such as the left hand arpeggios which produced a guitar effect. Halsted treated them delicately, touching carefully on the keys with precision and airiness, as if a guitarist were accompanying her right-hand voicings.
Scarlatti works were a good introduction to a much grander piece, Beethoven Sonata in F minor, Opus 57, famously known as “Appassionata.” Halsted was more interested in faithfully representing the original score rather than exploring the possibility of the new musical interpretation. Here, not having a page-turner posed some problems. Although she did not make an audible pause, taking a right hand off from the keys to turn the pages certainly distracted her from the bass play of her left hand.
Completely without pretense, Halsted’s presence was that of a neighborhood piano teacher, rather than an inaccessible professional pianist, and led the audience to feel intimacy to her. Her eyes intently stared alternately on the scores and the keys through her large glasses, while her fingers freely moved on the piano. Her classical and standard interpretation, though rigorous in technique, allowed the audiences to relax.
The second part of the concert was both contemporary and experimental, contrasting form the beginning. The impressionist ambience in the Preludes by Ginastera became richer with Hastled’s musical expression. She used a pedal with an extreme delicacy. One could hardly see her lifting her foot from the pedal, but the chords resonated without blur.
Halsted’s performance seemed to be at the peak with Barber’s Sonata Opus 26, which she pulled off with a great intensity. Completely absorbed into the piece, she flawlessly presented the final movement, which required incredibly demanding technique. The abrupt ending of the final fugue came so dramatic that it left a sense of bittersweet in the silence that came after.
More than half of the audiences were the senior music lovers. Many of them were relatives, friends of Halsted, or her students who came with their families.
Shirley Kenning, from Michigan, said she was especially impressed with the Barber sonata.
“It was extremely well-done, [and] an outstanding interpretation. Her touch was unusual and her technique was different [from other musicians],” said Kenning, whose granddaughter takes piano lessons from Hastled.
Halsted performs frequently as accompanist, chamber musician, and soloist. Besides teaching in schools, she also teaches privately in Middletown and is a staff accompanist at Central Connecticut State University, and ballet accompanist at Wesleyan. She has been music director and organist at Higganum Congregational Church since 1994.
After studying at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Halsted received a Master of Arts in world music from Wesleyan, specializing in piano and South Indian music. She has taught in music camps and colleges including Eastern Connecticut State University and Wesleyan.