Coronation Concert

Michel Block, a diminutive, red-haired pianist who looks like a teen-age Artur Rubinstein, clearly was the choice of a Carnegie Hall audience two years ago, when he competed for the most coveted instrumental prize in the U.S., the Leventritt Award. His performance of Brahms's Concerto No. 2, a work laced with tranquil melodies and fiery passages, brought the audience to its feet for five minutes of applause. But the judges did not give the award to Block or anyone else. Leonard Bernstein, speaking for the judges, pointed out that contestants for the Leventritt do not compete against one another, but against a standard. Not even Block, he said, had measured up to the standard set by such previous winners as Van Cliburn, Malcolm Frager and Gary Graffman.

Last week Block, 24, a Belgian-born Frenchman who lives in Mexico City, was back before the judges* for another try at the Leventritt Award, which brings $1,000 in cash and appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Denver symphony orchestras. Onto a stage at the Metropolitan Museum of Art paraded four other finalists: Ralph Votapek, who gracefully turned the willowy phrases of Beethoven's Concerto No. 4; Bela Szilagi, whose Brahms and Liszt were played with cohesive intensity; Marilyn Neeley, a petite brunette who mastered the pyrotechnics of Tchaikovsky with brute female strength; and Stephen Manes, whose forte is clarity.

Then Block took charge at the piano, and with Mozart's "Coronation" Concerto prompted Serkin and Bernstein, Mannes and Graffman and Szell and Firkusny to exchange pleased glances. "Let's hear Beethoven's Opus 27 in E-flat," asked Leopold Mannes from the balcony. Block then eased his way into the Beethoven sonata fantasy with a keen intelligence that paid heed not only to detail but also to essential unity. Displaying versatility as well as virtuosity, Block played a cadenza from a Tchaikovsky concerto and a Liszt sonata. Chattering excitedly, the judges reached a verdict in 15 minutes, and this time Michel Block walked off with the prize.

* Rudolf Serkin, Leonard Bernstein, George Szell, Rudolf Firkusny, Leopold Mannes, Nadia Reisenberg, Gary Graffman, Claude Frank, Gitta Gradova and Theodore Bloomfield.

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