Thursday, October 16, 1997
Precocious pianist to play at Shoenberg
MUSIC: French-trained Mari Kodama melds technique with
emotion
By Sam Toussi
Daily Bruin Contributor
Babe Ruth was born to play baseball. Mikhail Baryshnikov was
born to dance. Thomas Edison was born to innovate. And Mari Kodama
was born to play the piano.
On Saturday, Kodama will do just that at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall.
The evening will commence with a CenterStage Lecture with
artist-teacher Dusi Mura one hour prior to the performance. The
performance will include selections from Bach, Beethoven and
Chopin.
Born in Japan, Kodama moved to Europe at age six. At the age of
14, she was accepted to the Conservatoire National Superieur de la
Musique in Paris, where she studied piano with Germaine Mounier and
chamber music with Genevieve Joy-Dutilleux. All her peers were 18
to 22 years old, but Kodama quickly gained acceptance as a
precocious pianist.
She then made her debut in Osaka, Japan when she was 17 years
old. Despite her quick rise to international recognition, Kodama
realizes that her natural talent can only take her so far.
"You can improve endlessly. I’m aware of how lucky I’ve been and
grateful that my career began so quickly," Kodama says. "But I also
know there are so many things to explore."
Despite her reputation for playing Mozart, Kodama has put pieces
by Bach, Beethoven and Chopin on the program for her performance at
Schoenberg Hall.
"Bach is challenging for any pianist and Chopin’s Preludes are
fashioned in that they are major and minor alternately. It becomes
a sketch of darkness versus light, death versus life," Kodama
says.
But it is the emotion with which Kodama plays that has made her
stand out amongst other great pianists. It is remarkable that, at
such a young age, Kodama infuses massive amounts of passion in a
technically strong performance. But those qualities do not come
without work.
"You have to really research and try to find out why the
composer wrote the notes he wrote. You must discover what the style
is and it is always a work in progress," Kodama says. "But once the
performance comes, you forget about the work and concentrate on a
sense of power and bring the excitement to the audience."
Kodama’s work does pay off. She is widely recognized as a genius
in terms of conceiving a piece and executing it.
So it is not surprising that Kodama will play some of the finest
and most expressive pieces of the three composers.
Kodama’s conceptions and execution make a real difference. No
matter how wonderful the piece, the composer needs a skilled
performer to bring it to life.
Kodama is equal to that task. To her, she was born to expose all
the subtleties and nuances of the composer’s original work.
MUSIC: Mari Kodama plays Saturday at Schoenberg Hall. Tickets
are $25 and $10 with UCLA ID. For more information call (310)
825-2101.UCLA Center for the Performing Arts
Pianist Mari Kodama plays Saturday at Schoenberg Hall.