Schiff to bring to life late Beethoven mystique

By Lee Hyo-won

In his Korean concert debut in 2008, Andras Schiff delighted fans that had waited so long to hear him live with a colorful variety of programs, ranging from duos with the cellist Miklos Perenyi to masterclasses. His Bach was pristine — without the use of the damper pedals of course — and the performance was crowned with three encores.

The talented pianist will return for his second visit next week, bringing this time the mystical sonatas from Beethoven’s later period.

The Grammy Award-winning artist has explored composers in comprehensive projects, and is particularly renowned for recording and performing nearly all of Bach’s solo keyboard works. His latest passion has been Beethoven, and the pianist will finally present the last three pieces in the sonata cycle — Nos. 30, 31 and 32 — at Seoul Arts Center on Feb. 23.

“Part of what makes Mr. Schiff’s Beethoven so engrossing is that his interpretive approach eludes definition. An artful blend of intuition and analysis has gone into his preparation. Yet the results are constantly surprising,” said the New York Times of his 2009 Carnegie Hall recital series through which he showcased all of Beethoven’s 32 sonatas.

Paik Kun-woo had also showcased the complete cycle in just one week here in 2007. Because Beethoven had composed piano sonatas regularly throughout his musical career, a chronological presentation of the oeuvre offers not only a glimpse of the composer’s musical ideology but maps out the soul of a highly creative individual.

Schiff once said that young pianists are usually not fit to play the sonatas from Beethoven’s later period — these were very difficult times for the composer and young musicians often lack the maturity and experience to fathom the life lessons that breathe between the notes. Schiff, 57, began playing the sonatas after he turned 50.

The pianist is known as one of the most exciting classical musicians to emerge from Hungary, along with Zoltan Kocsis and Dezso Ranki, with whom he regularly performed.

Schiff was born in Budapest in 1953 and began playing the piano at age five. By the time he was nine he had already made his stage debut, and after studying at the Liszt Academy on a scholarship, he entered the international music scene by winning awards at the prestigious Tchaikovsky and Leeds Competitions.

Though his homeland boasts strong musical roots, studying the arts under the 1970s communist regime was far from easy. Schiff thus pursued his career overseas in London, Salzburg and New York. Schiff has some 100 recordings under his belt for numerous labels including Decca and ECM.

Fans can thus look forward to the insight Schiff may offer concerning the wisdom and spirit of Beethoven. And yet, these works, which have a certain mystical spiritualism about them, also showcase pulsating dynamism: “In the passages where Beethoven evokes dramatic recitative, Mr. Schiff played with daring freedom and operatic flair (such as in) the slow movement of the Sonata No. 31, for example,” said the New York Times about the pianist’s aforementioned recital series.

Tickets for the concert cost from 50,000 to 130,000 won. Schiff will also give a masterclass from 2 to 5 p.m. on Feb. 24. All tickets cost 30,000 won. Call (02) 541-3183 for more information.