It was once again the Piano Fest and as usual, I would pick a couple of recitals to go to.
This year, the theme was "Chopin at 200" which was strangely, not really a programme full of Chopin works. Rather, it seem to be more of the influence of Chopin and his influences (even though the programme notes wasn't too obvious in that as well).
Anyway, I caught 2 performances this round. Incidentally, the music programme for both evenings were mostly not the "melodious" kind (in a good way), but how should I put it..."running/tinkling"?
25 June: Benjamin Grosvenor
A little shy of his 18th birthday, I was impressed by this unassuming young man's playing. The programme for the night was:
1) Kapustin - Concert Etudes Op.40
2) Liszt - Piano Sonata in B minor, S.178
3) Chopin - Nocturne in F-sharp major, Op.15 No.2, Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. post. and Scherzo No.3 in C-sharp minor, Op.39
4) Ravel - Gaspard de la nuit
I personally liked the Nocturnes (as usual), and Ravel's Gaspard, particularly the Le Gibet movement.
I was fortunately to get a seat in full view of Benjamin's piano playing and enjoyed it, as he plays fluidly, his fingers seem so light, yet also firm too. There were some parts where my eyes could hardly keep up with the speed of his fingers! Maybe it's just me, but I found he had firm control of his last finger especially during the "bell tolls", like it was "separated" from the rest of the fingers. Personally, I usually have problems as it's the the weakest finger (or simply because I never practise lah).
26 June: Piotr Anderszewski
Well, there wasn't any Chopin pieces this evening, but Piotr is Polish(-Hungarian), coming from the homeland of Chopin. The programme for the night:
1) Bach - English Suite No. 5
2) Szymanowski - Metopes
3) Schumann - Six Etudes in Canonic Form, Op. 56
4) Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major, Op. 110
As my friend said, Piotr's playing was "light", rather French. And I agree with her. I liked the Schumann piece as well as the Beethoven. We were sitting rather far, so couldn't see his playing, nor expression (although it seemed rather emotionless), but you can tell when some pieces warranted a more expressive disposition than others.
Both nights heard 2 encore pieces.
Next piano concert? If no other programmes pop into my radar, it should be Lang Lang in Oct.
10 years ago
"Rather, it seem to be more of the influence of Chopin and his influences (even though the programme notes wasn't too obvious in that as well)."
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to be cynical, but one could really argue that a LOT of piano music in the Romantic period and thereafter was probably influence by Chopin in one way or another. Just like they sometimes say that Bach was the forefather of classical music, because he arguably inspired generations of composers that came after him, so everything could be "influenced" by Bach if we really wanted to look at it that way as well.
That's why I found it really hard to understand the rationale behind this year's theme.
By the way, were to able to identify the encore pieces? I'm curious to know what encore pieces they played.
Surely the should have played some Chopin encore pieces, no?
unfortunately, I'm not as well-versed in my knowledge of classical pieces, although some sounded familiar.
ReplyDeleteAnd they didn't announce the names when they played the encore pieces.
I guess the reviews will tell?