Live Concert Review: Young and Old Close out an Amazing Day Amazingly
By Mike Winter
Any day you hear five pianists that you hope to hear again, especially when it’s in the Cliburn competition, is an amazing occasion. Australian Andrea Lam, for instance, has it all: great looks, audience savy (she’s 27), superb technique, and innate musical instincts. She performed the most moving Schumann “Fantiestucke” I have ever heard. With breath-taking pianissimos and phrasing, she found colors and depths in the music I never knew existed. This was followed by two Goyescas, and an exciting discovery, a very effective virtuoso showpiece by prominent American composer Aaron Jay Kernis titled “Superstar.” (Judging by this piece, Kernis would make a great addition to the American Composer’s Invitational, but he probably serves on the nominating committee.) The Goyescas sounded a bit like more Schumann to me, but the Kernis brought the audience to its feet, concluding a very successful opening recital.
At the other end of the age spectrum here is 19-year-old Haochen Zhang who also sent the audience into excited post-concert conversation. He presented a well balanced program of Beethoven, his Op. 110 sonata, the Chopin Polonaise-Fantasy, and Stravinsky’s “Petrouchka.” Zhang’s magisterial Beethoven belies his young age, as did the Chopin. Both are late works that Zhang relished deeply. I loved his treatment of the Chopin’s counterpoint in the slow central section. The Stravinsky was all in tempo and 99% accurate. (I should have mentioned that Mariangela Vacatello gets credit for the fastest and cleanest version I’ve heard in live concert.) Not only that, Zhang made the piece colorful. Zhang will surely come away with some award.
May 26th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
The audio doesn’t work for me for Lam’s performance. It works for every other performance on the cliburn site. You in any position to check on that?
May 26th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
I like Haochen Zhang a lot, but I would rather see an older pianist take his place in the semifinals. There are a few deserving pianists above 25 here, and this is probably their last chance.
Haochen just didn’t knock me out the way Joyce Yang did back in 2005. He is not head-and-shoulder above the field, the way Joyce Yang was. He doesn’t generate the same excitement and buzz like Joyce Yang. He is really good, but he is not a phenomenon.
Haochen still has plenty of time. Going home early will not hurt his future one iota. He still has plenty of chances with or without this, and I expect him to do very well.
May 26th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
I beg to differ with Mr. Winter’s comment that Zhang was 99% accurate in his Stravinsky. He was 99.99 percent accurate. I could only count about four to five notes which did not sound clear enough because of his pedaling. He didn’t actually miss the notes. On the other hand, his thematic lines in the whole piece were clear and musical. No matter how good older pianists (near the cutoff age) play, they are always at a disadvantage because jurors usually look for someone who has a potential to put down his or her own “mark” down the road within a few years after the competition. They always think if an older pianist has a good potential, he or she should have made it already. It’s a shame but this is often the case. Sultanov won it at 19, Yundi Li won the Chopin at 18 and Blechacz, the most recent Chopin winner, won it at barely 20. Personality counts but I don’t think it will be a factor with the jurors of this competition.