Cliburn Competition: Quarterfinal Recital 1, June 5, 2022
—Wayne Lee Gay
With the field of competitors trimmed down from 30 to 18 quarterfinalists, the second round of 45-minute-long solo recitals began Sunday morning at the Van Cliburn Concert Hall on the TCU campus. Russian Anna Geniushene, 31, opened with a program designed to show off both her powerhouse technique and a strong intellectual foundation. She opened with Brahms' Four Ballades from Opus 10, a relatively early set based on Scottish folk tunes. She approached this Scottish-inspired but unmistakably German selection with a traditional Russian pianistic approach, showing off her infinite range of shades and volume levels. The only questionable moment arrived with the deliberately blurry pedal (presumably for sonorous effect) in the middle section of the final Andante movement.
Besides serving as an excellent contrast to the Brahms work, Bartók's Sonata from 1926 served as an excellent vehicle to highlight Geniushene's muscular technique and musical imagination. Here, folk dances weave in and out of a dissonant modernist setting within a classical sonata structure. The ebullient Molto Allegro finale, landing on a gloriously dissonant explosion, proved well-suited to Geniushene's temperament, and seems likely to inspire the jury to want to hear more.
Competitors have been given the choice of a Hamburg Steinway or a New York American Steinway. Most chose the Hamburg instrument, but American Andrew Li, 22, selected the New York instrument for his program of two sets of nineteenth-century variations: Beethoven's Six Variations in F on an Original Theme, and both volumes of Brahms' massive Variations on a Theme of Paganini. The Beethoven showcased a sure command of structure and an impressive technique within a moderate range; the Brahms proved equally impressive on a larger scale.
Some Cliburn long-timers might recall Olga Kern's performance of the Brahms in 2001, in which she slightly rearranged movements to create continuity, with no break between volumes. Li opted to perform the two volumes as written. The audience broke into applause at the grand conclusion of Volume I, to which unflappable Li responded with bows (possibly pleased to have a little break in the relentless series of technical and interpretive demands). The second volume digs a little deeper, and Li created some breathtaking moments as Brahms ranges from almost sentimental passages to pianistic thunder.
The New York Steinway disappeared and the Hamburg Steinway rolled back on for Belarussian Denis Linnik, 26, and for the third consecutive set of variations of the morning, this time in the form of Schumann's Symphonic Etudes. Momentum was superb with, however, an occasional balance problem between hands. From the pure romanticism of Schumann, Linnik moved to the cusp of romanticism and modernism with a glowing reading of Scriabin's Sonata No. 5. This in turn bridged into the mainstream modernism of Ligeti's "Devil's Staircase" Etude from 1994. The rising scale passages provide a fittingly devilish set of technical problems, and demand angles approaching contortions from the pianist. Linnik responded with aplomb, creating—at one pound—a beautifully brilliant sound in the upper reaches of the keyboard resembling the noise of breaking glass. He closed dramatically by allowing the sound of the final note to die slowly and ominously.
