Works by Scarlatti, Liszt, Silvestrov, Revutsky, and Chopin. Illia Ovcharenko, piano. Jane Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 7:30 p.m., March 4, 2025.
We are only in early March and the year is still young, but I have a strong feeling that the recital I heard last evening will take pride of place as one of the very best in 2025.
I am referring to the Music Toronto recital given by 23-year-old Ukrainian pianist Illia Ovcharenko. Winner of many important competitions including the prestigious 2022 Honens, Ovcharenko is no stranger to Toronto. He made a huge impression in his duo recital with Jon Kimura Parker at the 2023 Toronto Summer Music Festival. Also memorable was his TSO debut under the direction of Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv, dazzling us with the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1.
Last evening, a discerning audience full of piano cognoscenti was treated to an extraordinary performance by an artist in his youthful prime. The first half had three Sonatas, interestingly all in the dark B Minor key — two Scarlatti Sonatas, with the monumental and fiendishly difficult Liszt in the middle. Incidentally, it was his spectacular Liszt B Minor Sonata that clinched his Honens win three years ago. And thanks to YouTube, one can relive his magical Honens performance here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPMQ-05acHU
Scarlatti and Liszt may seem a rather odd pairing, but in Ovcharenko’s hands, it was brilliant and revelatory. The opening Scarlatti K. 87, a piece that’s elegance personified, was followed by the wildly dramatic Liszt, the intensity of his playing was such that I felt as if I wad pinned to my seat. In the quiet and supremely lyrical moments in the Liszt, one could hear echoes of the Scarlatti. The third sonata, Scarlatti K. 27, never sounded more Romantic to my ears.
Second Half
The second half began with Ovcharenko speaking to the audience about the program. Given the largely Canadian crowd might not be familiar with the two Ukrainian composers (Valentin Silvestrov and Levko Revutsky), he offered interesting tidbits about how he grew up surrounded by the works of Revutsky, who came from the same hometown, Chernihiv, Ukraine, and how he was exposed to the works of the great, still-living composer Silvestrov when he relocated to Kyiv.
I have acquainted myself with the works of Silvestrov and Revutsky, thanks to Ovcharenko having programmed them in the past, and most of all, to YouTube where you can find just about any music under the sun. The quiet beauty of the Bagatelles by Silvestrov, so evocatively played by Ovcharenko, will stay in the memory bank. Also exquisite was Prelude No. 4 by Revutsky.
To my ears, these two composers’ pieces go so beautifully together, as if they share the same Slavic soul.
The evening ended in familiar ground — a fantastic rendition of Chopin’s justly famous Polonaise in A flat, the “Heroic”. Ovcharenko’s playing was a veritable masterclass, on the felicitous melding of energy, intensity, bravura technique and innate lyricism. He has found the secret of how to make the piano sing.
I dare say the audience went home happy.
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