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South Korean finalist Son Yeol-eum performs during the 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition underway in Fort Worth, Texas.
/ Courtesy of Van Cliburn Foundation |
By Lee Hyo-won
Korea Times Correspondent
FORT WORTH, Texas ― The 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition is underway through Sunday, and the six competitors have nearly completed the three-part final round.
Son Yeol-eum, one of the four South Korean contestants to make it to the finals, wrapped up her program Saturday afternoon. The 23-year-old was the first finalist to finish her bid for a prize.
After giving an impressively thematic and well-rounded 50-minute recital round Thursday, she gripped the crowd Friday with an engrossing rendition of Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2. While one music critic said her strong touches were a bit ``too Brahms'' for her taste, others commented that her performance was most affecting. One audience member, John Stasikowsky, a Fort Worth resident who is originally from Poland, gasped it was ``the best Chopin 2nd I have ever heard.'' ``She expressed (Chopin's) Polish spirit,'' said the piano lover who takes master classes at the Texas Christian University.
``Yesterday's Chopin was wonderful,'' exclaimed Maestro James Conlon, who led the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra opposite the young pianist, when he popped into Son's waiting room 10 minutes prior to the Saturday performance of her second concerto. The music director of the Los Angeles Opera has been taking time off his busy schedule to take part of the quadrennial event, and has taken under his wing the 2005 competition's silver medallist ― the first Korean winner of the Cliburn ― Joyce Yang.
Last year, Yang was the first to ever play Prokofiev's technically devilish and emotionally terrifying Piano Concerto No. 2. This year, Son and China's 19-year-old Haochen Zhang chose the piece as one of the two concerti they are required to play (Zhang is to perform it 2:45 p.m., Sunday, local time).
Bass Hall almost caught on fire with Son's impassioned, thunderbolt concerto, particularly in the tumultuous first movement ― despite the error in a note or two. As jury chairman John Giordano said, at this point, it's not so much about accuracy but about overall effect. ``She completely owned the piece,'' said Chloe Cutts, editor of International Piano magazine from the United Kingdom.
The young artist reminded the listener that piano playing is indeed a very physical exercise, as she makes economic use of her bodily swaying: What distinguished her muscular ``abuse'' of the keys with that of Bulgarian finalist Evgeni Bozhanov, 24, is that she takes her fingers off the keys of the New York Steinway with utmost grace, rendering thus organic, and ultimately harmonious, phrasings for even the most dissonant music.
Bozhanov nevertheless redeemed himself Friday from Wednesday's mind-boggling Chopin concerto. In his recital, he demonstrated that he is well capable of fine pianissimos in Takemitsu's ``Rain Tree Sketch I'' while Gounod-Liszt's booming ``Faust Waltz'' most well suited his muscular playing, though one could not help feeling rather sorry for the piano. Saturday evening, however, he seemed to commit something of a musical suicide. It was difficult to believe what he was playing was Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2, particularly after Japan's Nobuyuki Tsujii's beautiful rendition of the same piece earlier that day. What resonated in this reporter's mind was not music but a headache as he pounded the keys. According to a local report, he practices with an electronic Yamaha and was not happy using a New York Steinway, but some people were definitely not happy with his Rachmaninov, and several were seen walking out.
Back on the rise was Italy's Mariangela Vocatello, who gave a fine-tempered rendition of Beethoven's 4th Concerto. Her introspective playing in the second movement was particularly beautiful, but the Hamburg Steinway sounded a bit woody at times and that special elan of her semifinal performances was not fully resurrected. Also her Prokofiev 3rd concerto on Saturday was far too rushed and labored, even though it was a refuge to the ear after the Bulgarian's key butchering.
In his recital round Saturday, China's Haochen Zhang, 19, gave a much more improved performance with Brahm's Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24, though Ravel's ``Gaspard de la nuit'' could have been more accented. It is hoped that he shines with something more characteristic in his final performance Sunday of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2. His countrywoman Di Wu, 24, gave solid performances of the same Ravel piece later on that day. She has been giving a steady performance throughout the final round, adding her own color to Bach's Toccata in F-sharp minor, BWV 910.
The finals results will be announced at 5 p.m., Sunday (local time). The competition is being streamed live online in its entirety at www.cliburn.tv. Video clips of past performances are available as well. For recital ticket reservations and more information, visit www.cliburn.org.
hyowlee@koreatimes.co.kr
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