How complicated is the task of a music reviewer. How easy it would be to say that the performance was splendid or the evening was ghastly. But no, there are factors to weigh and consider, as at the recital by Monique Copper, a pianist from the Netherlands, who paid tribute to the water element of her country in an audio-visual presentation at the Calcutta School of Music on October 4.

On the far wall of the stage was projected a video about Dutch waters. The rolling, rippling and sometimes turbulent movement, although brilliantly synchronized with the music, often tended to detract from rather than enhance the performance. Copper’s harshly interjectory recitations, sometimes whilst playing or in between works, were not terribly attractive either and often lacked clarity. The works chosen were from the repertory of the Romantic to the Modern era. Beginning with Claude Debussy’s Reflets dans l’eau, accompanied by a reading of W.J. Otten’s Bwa-pl (which came as a surprise), to Ravel’s Ondine, one watched mesmerized the movement of the waters. However lovingly-researched and adventurous the idea, Copper’s playing could have been more fastidious.

Chopin’s Preludes no.15 and 18, two familiar gems, were played with rough dispatch. Lucebert’s I reel a little revolution off sounded shrill. Frederic Chopin’s Barcarolle was brash and flippant, the waters suitably turbulent. One wonders if such a visual image was needed for a work so eloquent in itself. Bartók’s Barkarolle, with a recitation of Emily Dickinson’s I many times thought and György Kurtág’s Tears, accompanied by Monique’s Sailing, had an inconclusive ring. The poets’ works were lost in the maelstrom of visual effects and questionable enunciation. There was no resounding call for an encore but she played two anyway, one a zesty and humorous impression of the Netherlands’ dykes followed by a tribute to Tagore. As a cultural experience it was interesting, if a trifle wet.