Soyeon Lee
Anticipating this recital, certain challenges were obvious. With just two long-form works, she needed to demonstrate a conception of large-scale form, with constant interest and momentum. In the Albeniz, the extreme technical difficulty of which the composer himself acknowledged, the mechanics are monumental, but color and rhythm are as essential. Lee’s colorings were rich and vivid, and her rhythms incisive, with the crunch of flamenco strumming and the expansive tolling of bells in the finale. Her tempos tended to be broad in slow movements, but even in the opening of the Albeniz, which was relaxed, almost langourous, the momentum didn’t suffer. Her Schumann was full of character–the Arlequin clownish and the Coquette coquettish–as well as contrapuntal clarity; in the Eusebius movement, as often in Schumann, Bach was clearly in the background. Her varied touch and phrasing lent a sense of rhythmic flexibility without much rubato. I’ll refrain from handicapping at this point, but this was a great recital.
James McQuillen
May 23rd, 2009 at 8:38 pm
The webcast with Silverlight has been a great disappointment so far. Soyeon Lee’s recital was interrupted every few seconds - so bad that it would have taken an eternity for her recital to complete. So I switched to the audio only broadcast via KTCU 88.7, and what a joy it was.
The sensuousness she brought from Albeniz, and the inexorable flow in the Schumann Carnaval was a delight, plus I did not have to see her facial grimaces (emoting some would say). She had a few problems with Paganini, but it was an enjoyable performance overall. If she progresses, let’s hope to see one of her environmentally friendly outfits!
May 23rd, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Natacha Kduritskaya played in my opinion truly from the heart. She expresses her emotions and at the same time has the ability and knowledge to give a very unusual and wonderful performance.
Hope hearing more of her wonderful music,
Mattie Mattern
May 23rd, 2009 at 10:43 pm
I missed Soyeon Lee this morning and knew I would be able to see the archived performance later but, in trying it now there is a problem. The video begins to play and then seems to get stuck like it is trying to load but never begins to play. Will her archived performance be able to be fixed? Please say yes!
May 24th, 2009 at 8:27 am
I think Soyeon Lee gave the truly artistic recital of session 3. Everything seems to pour so naturally and so sincerely felt. I hope to see her go far in this competition.
May 24th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Hi all. This is the only archived performance that I can not see. The video only plays for about 10 seconds.
Can you fix it, please?
Many thanks.
May 24th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
The Lee performance is viewable now. The Albeniz was excellent. She struggled a bit with the brutal 3rd piece of Book 1 but it was nonetheless a great conception of the piece. She was great in ‘05 as well though, so who knows?