GORHAM – Pianist Laura Kargul has been waiting for the 200th birthday celebrations of Schumann and Chopin so she “can play them (exclusively) without guilt,” she said in opening remarks on Friday night at USM’s Corthell Hall. Her program, which included two all-time masterworks for piano, needed no special occasion. The concert hall was sold out.

The first half of the program was devoted to Chopin, beginning with the stormy Prelude in D Minor (Op. 28, No. 24), and a sad Mazurka in A Minor (Op. 17, No. 4) in which the dance itself pops up in wistful little flowerings on a barren landscape.

It was followed by the short and deceptively simple Prelude in A Major (Op. 28, No. 7) and the Scherzo in E Major (Op. 54), which combined beautifully flowing passagework with a fine cantabile technique.

The combination worked equally well in the popular Nocturne in D-Flat Major (Op. 54) and the piece de resistance, the Barcarolle (Op. 60). The latter seemed a little too fast at first for a Venetian gondolier, but everything fell into place and Kargul had a chance to exhibit her spectacular trills.

The only problem with this rendition of the Barcarolle is one that plagues almost every concert pianist. There are (at least) three stirring climaxes in the piece. One has to be chosen and the others subordinated for maximum effect. All are so attractive, however, that there is an irresistible temptation to equalize them, which, in the last analysis, makes the performance somehow less satisfying than it could have been.

The second half of the program consisted of the great Schumann Fantasie in C Major (Op. 17), an homage to Beethoven and Clara Weick that has everything and states it in unlimited detail. The “heavenly length” of the work, as someone said about Schubert, caused a couple of memory lapses, even with an open score, but they didn’t detract from an exciting performance. It is not very often that Schumann leaves you wanting more.

What did detract from the experience was the buzzing of a cell phone on vibrate, during a pianissimo passage in the first movement. That distraction made one glance at the lighted texting screens twinkling in the hall. Will it be possible to enjoy a contemplative moment again? And these, in large part, were Kargul’s friends and students.

Christopher Hyde’s Classical Beat column appears in the Maine Sunday Telegram. He can be reached at:

classbeat@netscape.net