Kim plays Beethoven, Hagen and Mussorgsky
Kim opens with an introspective Sonata No.28 in A major, perhaps an unusual choice in a competition. Being the one just before the monumental Hammerklavier, this work is often overlooked for good and bad reasons.
Here, Beethoven is on the verge of immersing himself in Romanticism, with many chromatic lines. Yet, he has not yet quite completely freed himself from the restraints or constraints of the classicism. Here, there are elements of classicism and Romanticism often in the same measure, and one of the challenges is to incorporate different elements into a cohesive performance.
I am finding the interpretation to be a little confusing. Where there is an abundance of classical elements, the overabundance of somewhat careless pedalling contaminates the purity of the sound. Or, looking at another way, it is a metamorphosis blending the elements of the two. You can look at it in either way.
Hagen is approached very differently from Vacatello’s performance yesterday. It is fascinating to see how different pianists approach new compositions, and this reading is no exception. Not quite as rich as the earlier performance by Vacatello, but it is quite convincing. Yet, I felt left wanting in Coplandesque dances embedded.
Kim started off the Pictures at an Exhibition with bright, ringing brassy tone. The colour is more Ravel than Stokowski. The delightful prettiness continues into the Gnomes where they are portrayed as being almost cute.
But the old castle and its brooding G# in the left paints a dark picture. I can almost see the moon in the haze, and the dark landscape. Yet the colours are distinctly French / Belgian (think saxophone in the Ravel’s orchestration.)
The Tuileries paints a garden and the kids fighting. Here, the palette of colours is French, as is the garden. However, the kids are not rambunctious enough. Kim’s small hands constrain her, resulting is deliberate loss of notes.
Bydlo opens with a dance like bounciness in the left hand. I find it unsuccessful, as the picture is of an oxcart slogging through the winter mud in Poland. It’s not a pretty picture.
In the ballet, Kim redeems herself. She modifies the score significantly however. In the second page, where two parts are repeated twice, she plays the right hand an octave higher the second time. I find it quite effective, but I am also left feeling that she is trying to paint Ravel rather than Mussorgsky.
Samuel Goldenberg und Schmuÿle showed two characters effectively, but I felt that Goldenberg wasn’t pompous enough, and Schmuÿle not petty enough. Again, the picture isn’t pretty.
The Limoge market started very well, with much life, though I’d like to have seen more tension in the bickering between two women. THEN, A DISASTER!!! Misses a few notes, and tries to recover, but she skips an entire page of negotiations or screaming. This would knock her out of the running, unfortunately, I predict.
She takes a long breath in the Catacombe, which was timed exquisitely. The darkness, the heaviness of the air, and the stale smell of the underground was captured well.
The she launches into the tricky Baba-Yaga. I could not help but think of the disappointment in her mind. However, it seems that she turned her disappointment into anger half way through the piece, and I am hearing rage, and the sinister laught of Baba-yaga in the sky above. That was the spirit and the colours I had sought in this work which I played in public for the very first time as a teenager, a long time ago.
In the Gate of Kiev, the tempo is a little hurried, again reminiscent of most orchestra performances. However, the bells in the middle section have the rich ringing tones, Kim uses the sustain pedal effectively to bring the recapitulation of the Promenade well.
Throughout the piece, I have noticed that Kim added extra notes here and there, mostly octaves, as many pianists have done in the past. I find them acceptable if kept in line with the spirit of the piece. Also, many composers did not have access to the modern Steinway that we enjoy today.
I am sure Kim is disappointed. However, she had much to say in the two performances she had, and we are also lucky that we will have a chance to hear her again with the quartet.
Ken Iisaka
May 29th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Such a lovely sound Kim is getting out of this piano in the Beethoven and wonderful attention she gives to each phrase and the contrast in dynamics she achieves between them. So far very much enjoying her performance.
May 29th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Nice performance, but I think it misses the mark especially in the last movement. Where are the fortissimos (indistinguishable from forte and mf in some cases) and sforzandi all through the movement. That movement should be a barnstormer. She also dropped a couple of the tricky trills in the fugue. Lovely first movement though. But even the third lacked the sehnsuchtsvoll (longing) that Beethoven wanted despite the beautiful sound.
May 29th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Brad, Thanks. I believe you explained why I was left a bit unimpressed by her Beethoven. I just couldn’t put it in words. I needed more from her, although her tone is very good, perhaps more the Hamburg piano than her?
May 29th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
I was looking forward to this performance because I liked Kim in the prelims. I think the Beethoven was too restrained and it puzzled me. Don’t know much about the Hagen so can’t really say. Let’s hope she’s not restrained in Pictures! But I’ll have to listen later… back to work.
May 29th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
I’m not sure I have ever heard such abrupt releases on the low octaves in “Bydlo” (in the opening) - it’s as if the ox-cart is hiccupping. Maybe Bass Hall’s acoustics smooth this out some?
I’m glad to get to hear her play and she’s clearly a very fine pianist, but I’ll confess I’m not especially moved by this performance so far.
I echo the thanks to Brad for explaining it a bit better than I can. I think her Beethoven first movement has been my highlight so far.
May 29th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
I’m really liking her Pictures, especially Byd?o and Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks. Excellent dynamics and touch. Now she’s in Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle and the repeated notes are excellent.
May 29th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I have to agree that after the 1st mvt of the Beethoven which I was so enjoying, the rest was simply not memorable nor impressive. And despite some interesting moments in Pictures, along with the slip up I just now heard I am not much impressed with her reading of it.
May 29th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Oh, my this Baba-Yaga and the last movement are wonderful. She’s definitely redeemed herself with this performance of Pictures, IMHO. The power you expect is there in spades.
May 29th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Musorgsky - liszt - exercises from hanon…
May 29th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
I’m afraid the Moussorgsky didn’t really paint a picture for me this time. The Beethoven was forgettable — although it did remind me of the first time I heard that piece, as a sophomore at Yale. You never forget your first time. I also never forgot my second time. Of all things, Vladimir Horowitz surprised the hell out of us, and suddenly showed up at Yale to play a big recital in Woolsey Hall. And of all pieces, he played this one as the cornerstone of the first half of his program. It didn’t sound like Beethoven at all, but I certainly remember it vividly.
“Pictures” is not exactly a subtle piece, is it? I found Kim’s playing today a bit too pianistic, and skittish in many spots (nerves?), except when she seemed angry or frustrated and really started to dig into the music.
Seemed a little more like white wine than vodka . . .
— MH
May 29th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Erin B. says:
May 29th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
“I’m not sure I have ever heard such abrupt releases on the low octaves in “Bydlo” (in the opening) - it’s as if the ox-cart is hiccupping. Maybe Bass Hall’s acoustics smooth this out some?”
I thought the same thing Erin, and questionable phrasing and pedaling in a few others. I wasn’t following with a score so I MISSED the memory slip (darn! - must have closed one ear too), and that, with a few other ’slips’ (like a less than accurate Rh run at the end of III and some stiffness in RH 8ves in Goldberg & Schymule), I’m now thinking that she might not advance like I ‘broadcast” on another forum).
She is an excellent pianist nevertheless, and too bad she had these mishaps today.
May 30th, 2009 at 12:00 am
The acoustics of Bass Hall definitely did NOT cover the strange hiccupping in the left hand of the Bydlo, I can attest for sure.
And I wouldn’t worry about the memory slip; if Sa Chen can omit four pages of the Barber Fugue (the hardest four pages) and still get the Third Prize in 2005, then Kyu-Yeon will be fine.