Young pianist returns
 and wows them again


If the opening concert of the 2010 Shelter Island Friends ofMusic season is any indication, we can expect an extraordinaryseries of musical performances this year. On Sunday afternoon, astanding-room-only crowd welcomed 16-year-old pianist Dean Petersenback to the Island after a triumphant debut recital in 2005, whenhe was just 11.

Those in the audience who had been present at that event wereanxious to hear how a child with obvious talent becomes a maturemusician with an individual style and a distinctive musicalpersonality. No one was disappointed.

Mr. Petersen’s amazing range allowed him to perform works fromthe 17th to the 20th centuries, with a long stop in the 19thcentury to honor the bicentennials of Schumann and Chopin, both ofwhom were born in 1810.

After a straightforward warm-up with a Bach Toccata, he played aHumoreske by Robert Schumann that showed his genuine understandingof the German romantic movement in a lyrically lovely performance.With Mr. Petersen’s evolving style, he plays the music as thecomposer intended. There is none of the mannered, exaggeratedchoreography of many of today’s piano virtuosos. The calm focus hebrings to the score adds gravitas to this sometimes lightweightpiece.

Five works by Chopin formed the centerpiece of the recital andelicited the finest, most idiomatic playing; from the empty-headed(but challenging ) Andante Spianato to the sublime Etude op.10,#11.

The printed program ended with the Variations on an OriginalTheme by the Polish composer Karel Szymanowski, a rarely heard butsubstantial piece, filled with occasional melodic references toboth Brahms and Rachmaninoff. The cheering audience demanded anencore and was rewarded with a restrained but rhapsodic performanceof Chopin’s D-flat Nocturne.

Many people at Sunday’s recital wondered where the youngpianist’s career will take him. But it is clear that this giftedperformer has already matured into a serious musician with apotentially brilliant future.