A Great Day for Chamber Music, Part II
By Mike Winter
Now for the chamber music part, great performances of piano quintets with the Takacs Quartet and, in order of appearance, Mariangela Vacatello in a vigorous Schumann, Evgeni Bozhanov in a sublime Franck, and a revitalized Andrea Lam ending the day with the Dvorak.
27 year-old Vacatello’s biography refers to chamber music experience and it showed. She blended with the quartet beautifully, had frequent eye contact, working seamlessly with Schumann’s voice lines trading among the players. Her Scherzo movement was especially fast and light, like a scherzo should be. Many pianists play the ascending and descending scales like an etude. The remaining movements were passionate, and I began thinking this could win the award (or awards, there can be one of $6,000 or two of $3,000) for best chamber music performance.
Then came Evgeni Bozhanov and the only performance of the Franck. Just as well, no one else need apply. Bozhanov immersed himself in the intro as if entering a hot bath, slowly savoring every drop of sound. As the other players joined in, his gorgeous legato singing line emerged, as in the slow movement where he lavished love on every note. All five players were inspired, and the audience responded accordingly. This autumnal piece has many secrets to share; get to know it over time, and with a performance such as this. (Not sure if audio and video recordings of all competition performances, available through the Cliburn Foundation, include the chamber music or the concerti, however).
Andrea Lam acted and sounded like she was born playing the Dvorak Piano Quintet. She loves every note of it. She fit the Takacs like a glove, matching intimately every phrase (in this sense she reminded me of Joyce Yang and the Takacs in 2005, which performance did win the chamber music award). With near-constant eye contact, Lam and the players were joyful, spirited, passionate and any other adjective you can think of for this music. Comparisons with Di Wu’s version the night before were inevitable, and that is a hard choice. I preferred Lam because her lovely tone was more easily audible, and the tempo choice for the great slow movement was more flowing, around 12 minutes rather than the 15 or so with Wu. But as in so many performances at the Cliburn, preferences are a matter of taste more than hierarchy.
May 31st, 2009 at 6:45 pm
I went to to the concert today racing over after church in Mesquite. In another 10 seconds I would have not been allowed in the Hall. The thing about Tsujii is that not only does he have wonderful technique, but he is way up there musically. His playing is very crisp and he has wonderful instincts and knows so well what he wants to do. He has done his homework to the nth degree. There is no way anyone else will get the Gold if he keeps playing this way.