Cliburn Competition: Preliminary Recital 9, June 4, 2022
—Wayne Lee Gay
Korean Changyong Shin opened the final session of the preliminary round of the 2022 Cliburn with Haydn's Sonata No. 50 in C, pushing in the direction of romanticism but with careful attention to the cheerful intertwining contrapuntal lines. Shin successfully achieved the balance of delicacy, energy, and substance necessary for successful performance of classical-era music.
He matched his empathy for the music of the classical era with an equal insight into the romanticism of Chopin, demonstrated in his performance of the Nocturne in B minor from Opus 62. Along with a beautifully nuanced line, Shin uncovered the poetry and fragrance of the piece.
Granados' "Los requiebros" ("The Flatterers") requires the same fine sense of timing, but with a more assertive melodic line than the Chopin Nocturne. Shin masterfully managed this on the carefully controlled journey to a passionate climax.
Russian Ilya Shmukler, quarter finalist in the 2017 Cliburn, returned to make a strong case for an even higher ranking this time around, with a program built on two gigantic transcriptions.
Ferruccio Busoni's arrangement of J.S. Bach's Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue, originally for organ, became a dynamic vehicle for Shmukler, with daring use of pedal to create cathedral-like sonorities from the piano. Likewise, the Three Movements from Stravinsky's Petrouchka, transcribed by the composer, demonstrated Shmukler's ability to fill the hall with a reproduction of Stravinsky's grand orchestral sound, as well as powerful technique and charisma. Between these two monsters of the repertoire, Shmukler presented an outsize rendition of Hough's Fanfare Toccata.
The final performance of the preliminary round opened appropriately with a radiant performance of the Hough (from memory) by Korean Yunchan Lim. After hearing thirty performances of the work, I'll endorse it as worthy of inclusion in the standard repertoire of 21st-century piano music.
Lim then turned to a neatly chronological repertoire covering baroque, classical, and romantic eras. Eighteenth-century French composer Francois Couperin's elegantly ornamented "La Couperin," was gently transplanted from harpsichord to the modern piano.
Lim presented the first Mozart of the competition with Sonata No. 9 in D. (Fear not, we'll hear twelve performances of Mozart's Piano Concertos next week.) Of course, he expanded his dynamic and timbrel range, shining in the central Andante con espressione, a plaintive soprano aria disguised as a sonata movement.
Lim closed his program, the evening, and the preliminary round by connecting Mozart to Chopin, via the teenage Chopin's Variations on "Là ci darem la mano," a duet from Mozart's Don Giovanni. To his credit, Lim presented the work, essentially a showpiece of fancy piano technique, with total gravitas, allowing a glimpse of the budding talent of the young Chopin, and hints of the masterpieces he would shortly create.
