CRISTINA ORTIZ: REVIVING YOUNG STRAUSS’ ‘BURLESKE’

No one can ever accuse Cristina Ortiz of avoiding adventuresome repertory.

As the dark-haired Brazilian-born pianist sat at the keyboard Wednesday night, excitedly discussing her Los Angeles Philharmonic appearances this week, the scores to several works for her season-in-progress cluttered the top of the Steinway in her Los Angeles hotel room:

Bernstein’s piano-orchestra symphony, “The Age of Anxiety”; Rachmaninoff’s Fourth Concerto, and, of course, Richard Strauss’ early “Burleske,” her vehicle with Andre Previn and the Philharmonic, being performed tonight in Santa Ana High School Auditorium.

Not exactly your run-of-the-mill collection of repertory.

“Everybody is always playing the same stuff,” she said. “Of course, I love doing the standards--I have to do them, of course. But a piece like the Strauss deserves to be heard. Even though he wrote it at a young age (22), all the qualities of the later Strauss are there.”

Ortiz recalled her earliest, not particularly happy, experiences with “Burleske”: “To be honest, I could never get into it at my first hearings. It was always played too fast.

“But the way I approach the music is to linger a bit, and enjoy myself. I’m very relaxed when I perform.”

Such a self-description contrasted sharply with the coiled spring of a musician who sat nervously on the piano bench, posing for a photographer and impulsively fingering silent chords as she spoke. Perhaps it was just pre-rehearsal tension. Soon she would have her first--and admittedly most crucial--meeting/rehearsal with Previn.

No, Ortiz insisted, she is a very relaxed player. Now.

“I used to be a purely instinctive pianist,” she confessed. “But now I put more thought in. I have more to say than I did even five years ago.”

A sign of maturity? “Oh,” she answered quickly, with a small grin, “I don’t like that term.” At 35, evidently, she is not prepared to be labeled mature.

“I’ve just spent more time listening to myself, on tape and on record. You can judge more that way. I’ll listen to one of my performances and say, (she suddenly grimaced) ‘Did I do that ?’ ”

Though her school days are now in the distant past, the wisdom of one of Ortiz’ mentors--Rudolf Serkin--continues to guide the London-based pianist during her artistic growth.

“I went to Curtis (Institute in Philadelphia) in 1970, after I won the Cliburn Competition in Texas, just so I could study with Serkin.

“He helped me with the structure and the nuances in music. He gave me the base. It was there, but I just didn’t use it. Back then I certainly didn’t need help with technique, having been a prodigy (she began piano at age 4 and entered the Brazilian Conservatory of Music at 8). Now, I find that the things he taught me are coming to the surface. I’m able to deal with subtle things, like getting the proper balance of the hands. I have to compensate for an overly strong left hand,”