What makes me most uncomfortable and conflicted? Young performers. And I have to confess that Jan Lisiecki has given me more inner torment than most.
At what point does an immensely talented child go from encouragement to being ripe for comparison with established professionals?
At what point does potential turn into a clear sense of who this person is as an artist?
Finding that point is nearly impossible, and yet part of what I do every day is pass judgment. Drawing the line at age 21 or after a major competition win, or after graduating from music school doesn’t work, because Lisiecki hasn’t achieved any of those three milestones yet.
Like everyone else, I’ve been impressed with Lisiecki ever since hearing him for the first time about five years ago. But I’ve also been occasionally frustrated by the subtlety of much of his interpretive work.
Then I remind myself of the coldness of hugely respected pianists like Andras Schiff and realise that I should try to distinguish better between my personal preferences and an objective sense of the painstakingly prepared professional interpretation.
And then I listen to a performance like the one Lisiecki gave at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland on Thursday — a solo programme of Bach and Chopin, including the full Op. 10 Études, all delivered with exceptional poise (as well as rivulets of sweat) — and I just want to run and hug the guy and exclaim, Yes!
This recital’s interpretations are restrained, but they also radiate a deep, soulful, human warmth.
Can I stop agonizing? Perhaps not yet, but I am feeling better.
You can check out Lisiecki’s recital for free at medici.tv, here. Then you can go search him out st Stratford Summer Music, where he is giving three concerts starting Aug. 8 — details here.
John Terauds