Classy master Frederic Chiu comes to perform and teach BY BECCA DEWAN

Either Portland has a soft spot for non-winners, or not winning is a common way to gain international fame. Freddy Kempf, whom PCA brought to town in November, burst onto the world stage after he took a surprising third place at the 1998 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition. Frederic Chiu, who comes to town February 9, gained notoriety after not winning an award at the 1993 Van Cliburn Competition. Loser Chiu first heads up a master class at the University of Southern Maine, then gives a concert in the evening at Merrill Auditorium.

This semester seems to be filled with master classes for all instruments at USM; they’re a great opportunity for students, teachers, and public alike. First-class musicians like Frederic Chiu are dedicated to educating people about the joys of classical music, and observing a master class is like watching a making-of documentary, part of the bonus features on a DVD. You get a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes action, a little foray into the work and effort that went into the making of the movie that is a big-time musician’s life.

At a master class, a student will perform a piece, and then the guest artist will work with that young musician for about half an hour. Depending on the artist, this can be a great learning experience or a grueling and uncomfortable affair for musician and audience members.

Piano students at USM have participated in master classes recently with Cheryl Tschaz and Richard Goode.

Erin Costello, a sophomore piano performance major at USM, says "It’s good to get another teacher’s opinion on your piece, to get different advice on technical or musical issues. You can either take it or leave it." Costello will be playing Schumann’s "Aufschwung" and "Grillen" from Fantasiestücke, Op. 12 for Chiu on Wednesday.

Also performing are Liz Noonan, with Debussy’s "Reflets dans l’eau"; Natalie McKechnie on "Scherzo" in C-sharp minor, by Chopin; and Joe Fletcher with "Jeux d’eau," by Ravel. There’s a concert in and of itself!

But if pedagogy isn’t your thing, then the real treat will be Wednesday evening at Merrill Auditorium. Mr. Chiu has a fine, if slightly imbalanced, program planned of those same three artists: Chopin, Debussy, and Ravel.

Some like thematically programmed concerts while others prefer a broad range of pieces, drawing from multiple time periods. Staying away from the Baroque and classical literature, Chiu chose to stick with romantic Chopin and impressionists Debussy and Ravel.

Chopin is known for incorporating folk idioms of Poland into his pieces. A mazurka is a Polish dance from the Mazovia region, where Chopin spent some of his childhood. As Chiu writes, "Chopin’s French heritage flowed in his blood, but the heart that moved it was purely Polish. The few summers he spent as a teenager in northern Poland put him in direct contact with country musicians, and his unusually powerful musical memory and highly developed sensitivity were a sponge for all that was local musical culture." Makes sense, then, that Chiu will play Chopin’s "Four Mazurkas, Op. 33," along with "Berceuse and Barcarolle" and selections for "Twelve Etudes, Op. 25."

An etude is "a study, an exercise, or a piece for practice of some special point of technical execution," according to my Webster’s. For many (hundreds of) years, this was the extent of the definitions — an exercise. Nothing that one would play in a concert. But in this collection, and also in his earlier collection of etudes in "Op. 10," Chopin composed musical, interesting, and challenging pieces — entirely concert-appropriate. Chiu will perform Nos. 1, 2, 5, 6, 11, and 12 of Chopin’s etudes.

Audiences will also hear selections from Debussy’s "Images, Book II," and Chiu will play Ravel’s "Gaspard de la Nuit" and a few pieces from his "Miroirs."

Aloysius Bertrand was a writer in the first half of the nineteenth century. His bizarre works strongly influenced poets and musicians who came after him. Ravel read Bertrand’s Histoires vermoulues et poudreuses du Moyen Age (read: Worm-eaten and Dusty Stories from the Middle Ages) and was deeply moved by it. He composed a suite of pieces titled "Gaspard de la nuit" as a reflection, or reaction, to Bertrand’s writing. There are three sections: Ondine, le Gibet, and Scarbo.

The impressionistic composer Claude Debussy wrote a collection of pieces called Images. From Book II of this collection, Chiu will perform "Cloches á travers les feulles" (Bells through the leaves) and "Poissons d’or" (Goldfish).

Chiu has chosen to perform a vast number of selections of various larger works in his concert this month. Does he feel that the entire works are too long? Does he want to expose the audience members to a multitude of different pieces? Is he not concerned with preserving the integrity of a whole composition? You be the judge.

Like many professionals these days, Frederic Chiu has a Web site with a bio and a concert schedule. But that’s not all I found on www.fredericchiu.com. Chiu has begun a program called Deeper Piano Studies (DPS). A quote from his site: "DPS leads pianists to a deeper level of playing through the use of unconventional exercises (such as learning away from the keyboard and exploring the learning process through cooking sessions)."

Thanks, but I think I’d rather stick with the master class.

Becca DeWan can be reached at beccadewan@mac.com

Frederic Chiu plays Merrill Auditorium, in Portland, on Wednesday, February 9. Call (207) 842-0800.