Chopin: Rondo à la mazur Op. 5; Ballade No. 2 Op. 28; Variations on “Là ci darem la mano” Op. 2; Sonata Op. 35; Trois nouvelles études Op. posth. Liszt: Réminiscences de Don Juan. Bruce Xiaoyu Liu, piano. Koerner Hall, May 7, 2023.
Shades of Sol Hurok and the superstar recitals of yesteryear: There were stage seats in Koerner Hall on Sunday afternoon for the RCM debut of Bruce Liu, winner of the 2021 Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw.
Not surprisingly, the Paris-born Montrealer played a good deal of music by the namesake of that prestigious contest. Somewhat surprisingly, I got the biggest buzz from his Liszt.
Fear not, there was much to admire in the Chopin selections, which included the great Sonata Op. 35. The trio of the famous funeral march was elegantly understated, and the scurrying octave quavers of the Presto finale had the intended unearthly effect. I enjoyed the rhythmic freedom of the development of the first movement (nerd note: Liu took the exposition repeat without the Grave introduction) but otherwise felt I was hearing a by-the-book Op. 35 performed (of course) at a stellar level.
The program began with Chopin’s Rondo à la mazur Op. 5, which prophetically reflected the 16-year-old composer’s intersecting interest in lyricism, complex part-writing and national pride. Then came the Ballade No. 2 Op. 28, notable for its soft and stormy sections in opposing keys, both done justice. The Variations on “Là ci darem la mano” Op. 2 — written when Chopin was a hoary veteran of 17 — was a compendium of athletic effects. Liu played them with cool brilliance, if such a thing can be.
There were also simple pleasures, as in the first of Chopin’s seldom-heard Trois nouvelles études Op. posth., its melody tugged at affectionately in the prizewinning Liu manner. Still, there was an extra jolt of extroversion at the end of the recital in Liszt’s Réminiscences de Don Juan (“Don Juan” being Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni, whence comes the “Là ci darem” tune). The opening chords growled portentously, scales lit up the room, left-hand octaves thundered like cannon. Liu was not only playing well, he was playing for us.
Three encores came quickly: Charles-Valentin Alkan’s Barcarolle Op. 65 No. 6, Liszt’s La Campanella, Albéniz’s El Puerto from Book 1 of Iberia. They were songful, rousing and colourful, in that order. The crowd cheered robustly. The recital ended with a presentation by the Canadian Chopin Society.
Next time, I hope to hear Liu in Austro-German music. With Chopin as the encore.
#LUDWIGVAN
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