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Pianist Han Chen at Central Park West

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Robin Shoemaker with Han Chen, May 20th 2017

At the May 20th 2017 concert at the Shoemaker salon on Central Park West, Han Chen played romantic era works by Scriabin, Schubert and Liszt.  He also played the hybrid Bach-Busoni Chaconne. What a swoon-fest!

Bach-Busoni: Chaconne in D minor

Ferrucio Busoni’s arrangement of Bach’s ethereal Violin Partita No. 2 applies romantic piano technique to baroque underpinnings. Han Chen’s signature touch was to reign in Bach’s crescendos to a precise but somber procession of thunderclaps, and then cut loose to a hectic race into the high arpeggios.

The acoustics of the Shoemaker salon were perfect for this work, enriching and damping the dominant bass. And yet, there was a detached, clinical feel to Mr. Chen’s rubato that left me wanting less cultivated drama and more instinctive passion.

Scriabin: Fantasy, Op. 28

The Scriabin Fantasy in B minor Op. 28  is a sweeping, sonorous work. I enjoyed the oceanic feel delivered by Han Chen, and was struck by his ability to bring out the color in Scriabin’s complex harmonies.

Schubert: Wanderer Fantasy, Op. 15, D. 760

In the Schubert, as with the Scriabin, Han Chen again demonstrated nuanced partial-pedal coloring. At times his right hand seemed like a passel of faeries dancing tiptoe across the upper registers. At other times his Schubert sounded Schubertianly (sic) ponderous. This is somewhat the nature of the Wanderer Fantasy, coming from the early part of the romantic era.

Liszt: Sonata in B Minor

Han Chen plays Liszt at Central Park West

Han Chen plays Liszt chez Shoemaker

Punctuated at the beginning and the end by a low staccato G, the great Liszt B Minor piano sonata is about half an hour long. This demanding work is so well-known that it has to be delivered with compelling authority, and Han Chen had no difficulty doing so.

From its deceptively simple opening to its keyboard-cracking crescendos, the slight Mr. Chen was totally on top of Liszt’s Sonata and performed it with impressive power and panache. Liszt broke pianos while playing works such as this, so I had to wonder whether Mr. Chen’s hands hurt afterwards. My ears certainly did.

Han Chen

I had no idea what to expect of Han Chen, other than the technical excellence that we take for granted in Julliard musicians. But at the end of the day, Mr. Chen’s Liszt Sonata overshadowed the rest of his program. It left most of us stunned, and your reviewer’s ears ringing.

In his closing remarks, our host Robin Shoemaker noted that in just a few days Han Chen would be participating in the Van Cliburn Competition. We wish Mr. Chen the best of luck: he certainly seems up to the challenge.

Li, Lipkina, Zimmerman: a Concert of Contrasts

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Three talented performers and host Robin at Central Park West

Zimmerman, Lipkina, Li, Shoemaker, NYC 2017-04-29

The three musicians at Robin Shoemaker’s Central Park West salon on April 29th were very different, except in one aspect: excellence. Each would have held our attention in solo recital, but thanks to our gracious host we got to experience them all.

Ning-Yuen Li

Ning-Yuen Li delivered a solid Haydn Sonata in C Major No. 58 Hob. XVI. His powered articulation gave Haydn a warm glow. But Ning’s special contribution to the evening was his gorgeous performance of Chopin’s Ballade No. 2 in F Major Op. 38. During this alternately serene and disturbed work Ning would lean far into the Steinway, as if to polish the keyboard with his distinctive forelock. Some pianists employ such theatrics for drama, but here it arose from Ning’s deep connection with the instrument and a very obvious love of Chopin (check out his F Minor Ballade).

Natasha Lipkina

Natasha Lipkina is one of the most accomplished musicians that I have had the pleasure of meeting. She and Ning delivered an enjoyable off-program partnership of violin and piano. This included a Telemann Fantasia and Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No.4 Op. 23. If their collaboration was unscheduled, that was not evident. They played as one from the sheet music, professionals to the core.

Margrit Zimmerman

When  Margrit Zimmerman joined us, Ms. Lipkina came into her own. Where Ning and Natasha together were at times a dueling duet, Margrit was restrained, slipping from foreground to background as called for. This sacrifice of self to the partnership is what we ask of the collaborative pianist, and it allowed Ms. Lipkina’s viola to shine.

Schubertiana

And shine it did! In Schubert’s all too short Litany for All Souls Day (arr. William Primrose), Natasha’s rendition was poignant but clean enough to avoid sentimentality. In his Arpeggione Sonata in A Minor D. 821, she showed her mastery of Viennese drawing-room lyricism. At the same time, she had a Haendel-like precision that made Schubert’s outbursts of dance crisply humorous and delightful. This was a musician at the peak of her art.

Contrasts

When I experience a performance such as that of Ms. Lipkina, I am profoundly stirred. But it would be unfair to single her out because each of these musicians brought their own unique flavor to the evening, such that the whole was greater than the sum of the contrasting parts.

Lars Vogt at Alice Tully, New York 2017

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Alice Tully Hall for Lars Vogt April 9 2017

Waiting for Lars Vogt at Alice Tully, April 9 2017

On April 9th, 2017 I was privileged to attend Lars Vogt‘s recital of Bach’s Goldberg variations at Alice Tully Hall in New York.

I love the Aria that begins and closes the Variations, but I do not know everything in between. This was over an hour of pianistic embroidery, uniquely interpreted by each artist who plays it. I myself am partial to Andras Schiff.

Lars Vogt

Lars Vogt was a clean and disciplined performer. His feet did not touch pedal during the entire performance, leaving him squirming at times to find somewhere to put them. His crisp articulation never seemed mechanical, because of his exquisite ornamentals and an almost surreal ability to separate voices in a constantly changing weave.

Overall, this recital was quintessential, crystalline Baroque, with a distinctly masculine strength. No simpering beauty here! It was what the Alice Tully crowd wanted, because Mr. Vogt drew cheers afterwards.

New York Audience

I don’t have much to say about the perfection of Vogt’s performance, but the same can not be said of his audience. I recall the gentleman, if I dare use that term, who used his  iPhone flashlight to read his program. He shone that light into the corner of my eye until I saw spots. And the lady sat next to him, who pencilled scratchily on sheet music through the entire performance. If this is the cultural elite of New York, you know what you can do with it.

My experience of Lars Vogt’s Alice Tully audience was par for the New York classical audience in general. Who among us has not been victim of an American entrepreneur who, at lights down, leaps from behind to snare a vacant seat in front of us? Or the young woman who helped herself to an empty seat next to me and illicitly recorded video of Khatia Buniatishvili while the glare from her phone distracted everyone around her?

We all want to play New York

In the country of my birth, such behavior would result in the offender being hissed into submission. Or perhaps, he would be beaten by rolled up umbrellas wielded by old ladies. In an eastern European country that I recently visited, the audiences were so respectful that I was embarrassed even to raise my camera. But New York? Ah, New York! I can’t say anything, because we all want to play New York (including your reviewer, if truth be told).

You want an encore?

When the audience called for an encore, Lars Vogt picked up the sheet music from the piano and held it up to us. I played the entire Goldberg Variations with no intermission and you want an encore? I had to agree with him. What can surpass 75 minutes of such bejeweled treasure?