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Sunday, May. 24, 2009
Cliburn’s second day features two stellar performances
Cliburn Day 2: China's Di Wu and Zhang Zuo stole the show Saturday at Bass Hall.
By CHRIS SHULL
Special to dfw.com
FORT WORTH — One of the perks of sitting in Bass Hall listening to piano recitals for six hours a day during the Van Cliburn competition — besides cascades of beautiful music, of course — is that every once in a while a performance will stand out, a brilliant diamond in a necklace of sparkling jewels.
Such a performance happened for me Saturday afternoon when Di Wu, 24, from China, gave a scintillating performance of Ravel’s Miroirs. The five-movement piece is an impressionistic handful, each different in color palette, shading and mood. Wu made each riveting.
In "Oiseaux tristes," deep indigo dissonances seeped languidly into the next, sculpted by Wu’s dexterous pedaling. "Une Bargque sur l’ocean" floated on gorgeous, silvery glissandi and churned up bright, glassy trills. In the Spanish-flavored "Alborada del gracioso," some notes were drier, dampened. Now the music was transporting; Wu’s hands poised above the top keys stopped applause from bursting out and marring the start of the final movement.
I was transfixed and delighted. Wu’s performance jerked me away from the beginnings of musical overload.
The same thing happened at the end of the evening in the recital by Zhang Zuo, 20, also of China. I didn’t know what to expect from the undergrad from Eastman School of Music, and she impressed me to no end. Schumann’s Variations on the name "Abegg" were spirited and very sweet. Her concluding cadence drew "ahhs" from the ladies in front of me. Three concert etudes by Liszt, Chopin and Stravinsky showed off her fantastic, fluid fingers.
And then, at last, a Liszt Sonata in B minor I could believe in. It was brisk, but balanced. She caught the grand scheme of the piece and didn’t get bogged down in musical over-acting.
Audience embraces Tsujii
There was a lot of attention placed on Nobuyuki Tsujii. The blind pianist’s recital to open the evening session was greeted with great enthusiasm at its beginning, and he received a sustained standing ovation.
His pianism didn’t always equal his accomplishment. Chopin’s Twelve Etudes were often heavy-fingered. Unchanging dynamics made the group seemed churned out. Tsujii fared much better in Debussy’s Images, Book 1. Here his touch lightened; even low, dark chords lightened. Textures were transparent, and sounds floated.
Liszt’s showpiece Paganini Etude No. 3, "La Campanella," again had a one-dimensional feel, with a repeated bell-chime that never fluctuated in color or thickness. But his muscular finger work was amazing, with dexterous wide-handed ripples stalking across the keyboard.
Soyeon Lee, 29, of South Korea programmed two extensive works — Albeniz’s Iberia and Schumann’s Carnival — to open Saturday’s matinee session. Pungent harmonies, folksy Spanish melodies and gypsy dances percolated crisply though her Iberia. Her Carnival was infused from opening promenade to closing procession with a feeling of innocence and nostalgia. Its 20 sections were a kaleidoscope of moments and moods and a decisive display for Lee’s wonderful technique, from quicksilver finger work to booming, full-handed chords.
A piece by living composer Elliott Carter was the hit of the recital by Vassilis Varvaresos, which concluded Saturday’s afternoon session. Catenaires, composed in 2006, was a whirlwind. Notes boiled up and down the piano. He spread music sheets across the piano for his performance — and drew a laugh from the audience when he whipped the first page of the score over his shoulder without interrupting the perpetual playing.
Chopin’s monumental Piano Sonata No. 3 capped the recital by 22-year-old Naomi Kudo of the United States and Japan on Saturday evening. She traced the piece’s lingering, lyric melodies with a lovely tone. But her playing didn’t always translate into a compelling performance.
In the "Triana" movement from Albeniz’s Iberia she teased sweet, flirty melodies from the Steinway. She opened her segment with Vine’s Piano Sonata No. 1. She gave it a mysterious, poetic opening; her pianism in the last section was bold.
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