Cliburn Competition: Quarterfinal Recital 5, June 6, 2022
—Wayne Lee Gay
American Kate Liu, 28, survived the preliminary round in spite of running considerably overtime with a program dominated by painfully introverted playing. She returned to open Monday afternoon's quarterfinal session with Beethoven's Sonata in A-flat, Opus 110, presenting the opening passages with a perfectly timed crescendo and beautifully nuanced tone. However, as the first movement progressed, what initially seemed an intriguing rubato eventually proved to be a troubling mannerism of hesitation. Her second work, Franck's Prelude, Chorale and Fugue, revealed the same ability to create an attractive tone, but voicing became somewhat muddled as the Fugue progressed.
Fugues played a large role in the afternoon's program: Liu's program alone contained two in the Finale of the Beethoven Sonata, as well as the Fugue at the close of the Franck work. More of them arrived in the program of South Korea’s Yinhyung Park, 26, who opened his program with Mendelssohn's Prelude and Fugue in E minor, in which a roiling arpeggio prelude prefaces an extended fugue, culminating in a grand statement of the traditional Lutheran chorale "Ein feste Burg" ("A Mighty Fortress"). Park opened the Prelude nervously, dropping notes on the way; the fugue proceeded smoothly, until Park arrived at the chorale, in which he destroyed the majesty of the passage with a rushed tempo. He likewise stormed through Brahms' monumental Variations and Fugue on a theme of Handel (the fifth fugue of the afternoon session). He had, however, settled his nerves enough by this point to manage Brahms' considerable technical demands.
Ukrainian Dmytro Choni, 28, presented one of the strongest programs of the competition so far, opening with Prokofiev's set of five Sarcasms. The work apparently shocked Rachmaninoff at the premiere in 1916; it still holds the power to intrigue (and possibly dismay) audiences with its dissonance and percussiveness. It provided a memorable and effective calling card for Choni, who delivered with style and panache.
After the brutal proto-modernism of Sarcasms, Choni created a fine contrast by moving on to two quintessential works of French impressionism, "Et la lune descend sur la temple qui fut" ("And the Moon Descends on the Temple that was") from Debussy's Images, and the same composer's L'isle joyeuse (The Joyful Isle). Choni created the hypnotic, static beauty in the former and revealed the joyful sense of motion and ecstasy in the latter.
Choni made another quick turn of mood and style for Liszt's Après une lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata (aka the "Dante" Sonata), in which, as the title hints, the composer dared to describe Heaven and Hell in the language of the piano. Once again, Choni met the challenge. So far, the one weakness in Choni's programs has been the absence of music of the classical era. If he makes the cut to the semifinals, he'll have his chance to remedy that with Mozart's Concerto No. 20.
