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Pianist Suejin Jung at Central Park West

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Suejin Jung at Central Park West 2/15/2010

Suejin Jung, 2/15/2020 at Central Park West

Suejin Jung and Gustavo Miranda-Bernales

Pianist Suejin Jung brought a guest pianist to her February 15th recital at the Shoemaker Salon at Central Park West.  Chilean pianist Gustavo Miranda-Bernales and Suejin took turns at the piano, ending with a four-handed duet.

Curtis Curtis-Smith: Etude No. 9

Gustavo Miranda-Bernales opened the recital with Curtis Curtis-Smith’s Etude #9 “for the Independent Rubato of the Right Hand”. A millenial work published in the year 2000, it quickly revealed its own unique and pleasant harmonic spatter. There were also hints of jazz and new age piano.

Debussy: Feux d’Artifice

Gustavo Miranda-Bernales

Gustavo Miranda-Bernales plays Debussy

Debussy’s Feux d’Artifice (“fireworks”) is a swirling, percussive drama. Mr. Miranda-Bernales gave a clear, jagged rendition, climaxing with a gut-punch from the bottom A of the Shoemaker Steinway, followed by a searing glissando and then fading away over a distant thunder of rolling bass.

Published in 1913, the work now appears to herald the opening salvos of the First World War.

Debussy: Étude 7 pour les degrés chromatiques

Suejin Jung played this challenging étude with ease. Musically, it felt somewhat harsh and unrewarding, but as a technical exercise it was impressive.

Debussy: Préludes, Book 1

Suejin Jung played the following well-known preludes from Book 1. I particularly appreciated the first, Les sons et les parfums. Apropos of nothing, Les sons ends with the same bottom A that I mentioned in Mr. Bernales’ Feux d’Artifice.

Franz Schubert: Fantasie in C major Op. 15 “Wanderer”

Schubert’s restless, charming Fantasie contains hints of the darker edge of his later sonatas. But even in Gustavo Miranda-Bernales’ commanding hands, it could not rise to the level of e.g. the great D 960 sonata in B flat Major.

Nevertheless, MIranda-Bernales’ compelling execution of this difficult work earned him raucus applause.

Frédéric Chopin: Sonata No. 3 in B minor

Robin Shoemaker, Gustavo Morales and Suejin Jung

Robin, Gustavo and Suejin

Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor Op. 58 is like a tray of jewels spread in front of the listener. How can one describe such glittering beauty and magical craft?

I was struck by how balanced Suejin Jung’s presentation was. Each movement and every section felt not too hot and not too cold, but just right. Her Largo was exquisitely paced and luminous, Chopin at his most sublime.

And even the galloping Presto, which opens with weighty romanticism reminiscent of Schubert, was reined back sufficiently by Suejin that it morphed from manic to majestic.

For this reviewer, Suejin Jung’s Chopin was the highlight of the evening. It was still playing in my head on the long ride home.

Encore: Fauré Le Pas Espagnol

Le Pas Espagnol is the last section of Faure’s Dolly Suite for four-hand piano. For this rousing Spanish dance, the pianists sat together with Gustavo playing the primo (upper) part. It was a delightful way to close the evening, leaving everyone with a smile on their face.

Pianist Ivan Gusev at Tenri New York

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Ivan Gusev playing C. P. E. Bach in New York

Ivan Gusev plays C. P. E. Bach at Tenri Cultural Institute

On February 8th 2020, Ivan Gusev gave a piano recital at the Tenri Cultural Institute in New York. The event was organized by the Leschetizky Association in honor Theodor Leschetizky (1830-1915).

Mr. Gusev has been featured in this blog before.

However this was the first time we saw him play works written by a composer born before Mozart.

C. P. E. Bach: Rondo in C Major H 260; Sonata in A minor (Württemberg)

At the Tenri Institute, the ceiling was high and square, and the walls were bare. Acoustically, conditions were challenging for the performer.

Nevertheless, Gusev’s Rondo was a delightful morsel which the pianist evidently loved playing. But the A minor Sonata felt less clear, possibly due to acoustics.

Beethoven: Sonata No. 14 in C# minor Op. 27 No. 7 (“Moonlight”)

Gusev’s Adagio Sostenuto worked well with the room’s resonance. His stately pacing had a slow pulse that pulled the listener inexorably to the closing arpeggios.

The lighter Allegretto functioned as a measured transition from reflection to action. Gusev exploded into a riveting Presto Agitato that, despite the occasional glitch, felt glorious and triumphant.

Debussy: Preludes, Book 1

After the intermission, Ivan Gusev presented a set of Debussy preludes. It included favorites such as La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin. Gusev certainly has a flair for Debussy. This reviewer was so entranced that he forgot to take mental notes for his readers.

Encore: Minute Waltz and Liebestraum

Ivan Gusev’s first encore was Chopin’s crowd-pleasing Minute Waltz. I’ve heard him play this as an encore before. On this evening I preferred his second encore, Liszt’s Liebestraum S. 541 No. 3.

While Ivan Gusev appears to relish showpieces, his talent shines brightest in more atmospheric works such as the Debussy of this program, or his Rachmaninov Études-Tableaux cited in a prior Roving Pianist review.

Leschetizky Association

Zelma Bodzin, Ivan Gusev, Alison Thomas

Assn. President Zelma Bodzin, Ivan Gusev, VP Alison Thomas

Students of Theodor Leschetizky founded the non-profit Leschetizky Association “to perpetuate his ideals and principles of piano playing and teaching”.

The Association offers performance opportunities for members and their students. Also, they organize concerts, masterclasses and a concerto competition for young pianists.

We thoroughly enjoyed the Leschetizky Association’s concert featuring pianist Ivan Gusev. The venue was warm and pleasant, the organizers friendly, and the refreshments good.

While the performance space had acoustic challenges, Gusev adapted well. Also, the walls were too bright. When taking photographs, I was “shooting against the light”.

For more about the Association, consult www.leschetizky.org. The .com site www.leschetizky.com is unrelated.

Denis Matsuev Overwhelms Carnegie

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Denis Matsuev

Denis Matsuev strode on to the Carnegie stage on Sunday October 20th, 2019.

Well over 6 feet tall, he looked powerful and solid, the proverbial Russian bear.

Outside Carnegie, a group of protesters chanted in Russian that Matsuev supports war. But surely there are more effective ways to critique Russian foreign policy than harassing a world-class pianist!

Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor

Liszt’s Sonata opens with a deep pulse in the Steinway’s chocolately low end. Matsuev paced this perfectly. Then it explodes into drama and episodic wandering, interspersed with archetypally Liszt-ian hammering climaxes.

This is a self-consciously great work. It is difficult for the pianist to imbue it with gravitas, because the work is patchy and wanders a lot. In Matsuev’s hands it felt harmonically muddy and sometimes rushed. For comparison, here is a recording of Marta Argerich.

The Roving Pianist Concert Clown award goes to the man who stood and started clapping before the last notes died away.

Liszt: Mephisto Waltz No. 1 S. 514

The Mephisto Waltz gives the pianist more to work with. It is an adventurous, lively work and Matsuev was wholly on top of it, sometimes to excess. Again there was some rushing. To be fair, the audience wanted a virtuoso performance and Matsuev obliged. At times the piano shook visibly from his raw power. This was the Matsuev machine we had come to see, a massive performance that brought the audience to its feet.

Tchaikovsky: Dumka in C minor Op. 59

Denis Matsuev at Carnegie Oct. 2019

Denis Matsuev with flowers Carnegie 2019

Tchaikovsky’s symphonies and concertos are the core of this cinematic Russian composer’s public image. Piano-lovers are familiar with his The Seasons. The Dumka is less well-known. It combines oh-so-Russian descending minor progressions with a dance that alternately sounds like fairies and trolls. Alas the dancers are unable to rise above the beautiful gloom.

From a pianist famed for how much noise he can get out of a piano, Matsuev’s Dumka was an unexpected treasure.

Stravinsky: Three Movements from Petrushka

Here again was a percussive showpiece for Matsuev to strut his stuff. I’ve heard many pianists play Stravinsky, and Matsuev’s rendition was one of the more impressive. But my response was muted because by then my appetite for hammering was overshadowed by the need to hear something more fulfilling.

Encores

Like Yuja Wang at Carnegie in 2016, Denis Matsuev really came alive with his encores.

As I have mentioned to other concert pianists, the audience may not recognize your encores. Even just naming the composer will help us figure it out. But Matsuev did not talk to us, and I recognized only two of his four encores. Later I identified the Sibelius by browsing recordings of Matsuev. Of the remaining unidentified encore, I can only say that it was light and possibly Russian.

Rachmaninov Études-Tableaux Op. 39 No. 2 in A minor

Rachmaninov was, for this reviewer, the highlight of Matsuev’s recital. It was lighter in the left hand than I prefer, but still had that heart-bursting cacophonous climax that I first heard played by the young Russian pianist Ivan Gusev.

Sibelius Etude No. 2 from Thirteen Pieces, Op. 76

I did not recognize this encore, but I could tell it was Russian. Wrong! Although it could pass for a Russian sailors’ hornpipe, it turned out to have been Sibelius. Not so far off geographically, I suppose.

Grieg-Ginzburg In the Hall of the Mountain King

Matsuev’s last encore was the Ginzburg arrangement of In the Hall of the Mountain King from Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No. 1. Matsuev sauced it up by playing the declamatory first note and extending the subsequent pause while chuckling with the audience. There followed an unashamedly hammered, ridiculously over-speed performance that was breathtaking to watch.

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed this concert, but I wish that Denis Matsuev had chosen a more integrated Liszt work, e.g. Harmonies du Soir. Compared with Rachmaninov’s Études-Tableaux, Liszt’s B minor Sonata seemed like a waste of Matsuev’s talent. If his audience wants him to hammer the piano, Rachmaninov offers plenty options.