{"id":84172,"date":"2022-10-25T10:14:28","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T14:14:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=84172"},"modified":"2022-10-25T10:14:28","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T14:14:28","slug":"report-10th-honens-international-piano-competition-semifinals-vii-viii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2022\/10\/25\/report-10th-honens-international-piano-competition-semifinals-vii-viii\/","title":{"rendered":"REPORT | The 10th Honens International Piano Competition: Semifinals VII-VIII"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pianist
Pianist Angie Zhang performs during the Honens International Competition semifinals (Photo: Honens)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Semis VII-VIII<\/strong><\/p>\n

Calgary \u2014 It was a strong afternoon at the 7th semifinal concert. Angie Zhang started with the same Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 7<\/em> that we\u2019d heard last night, but this time there was no competition with violinist Martin Beaver \u2014 you\u2019d think they were playing together for years. Attentively crafted throughout, the Adagio was particularly fine, like fingertips on your back, and when they took their bows there was not just eye contact but a hug.<\/p>\n

The gem in her program was Scriabin\u2019s Fantasie in B minor Op. 28<\/em>, a fiendishly difficult thing that tries to eat itself \u2014 the left hand like a monster digging under the floor. She deftly avoided its traps and collisions, but it was not effortless. It was unkind to Mozart to have his Sonata No. 2<\/em> follow while our ears were still stunned, but her performance of Rachmaninov\u2019s Liebesfreud<\/em> blasted through with conviction. This work unravels Kreisler\u2019s theme, throws all the threads in the air and snarls at the pianist: catch! It is mostly something to survive.<\/p>\n

Rachel Breen\u2019s selections for her final concert of the semis showed the same unconventional braininess as her first. I overheard a conversation about how the program was confusing, but I admired it. All 16 parts. With Martin Beaver, Beethoven\u2019s Violin Sonata No. 2<\/em> was endless spacious textural contrasts between the two instruments, and a heartbreakingly lovely second movement. Her solo program was played straight through; a weird menu, no doubt, but I wish more competitors had the guts to try this kind of thing. Like starting with two of the \u201cgames\u201d Gy\u00f6rgy Kurt\u00e1g has been writing since the 1970s. These vary wildly, like extracts of musical expression boiled for different amounts of time, but in her hands they transcended intellectual curiosity.<\/p>\n

Two Chopin Impromptus were like a greyhound released after a long day in a box, and they sandwiched an icy piece by Luciano Berio \u2014 who programs like this? Amazing! Then a rocket barrage: Medtner, Rachmaninov \u2014 No. 4 from \u00c9tudes tableaux Op. 39<\/em>, creepy crawling \u2014 before another, yes another, living composer: Leonid Desyatnikov and the Prelude No. 4 in E minor<\/em> from his Songs of Bukovina<\/em>, originally a ballet commission.<\/p>\n

\"Pianist
Pianist Rachel Breen performs during the Honens International Competition semifinals (Photo: Honens)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He calls his music \u201cminimalism with a human face\u201d but the Bukovina songs are straight up folksy \u2014 with an edge, I pictured a knife flashing in a delicate hand. Then music started flying past in a less meaningful way: Mendelssohn\u2019s \u201cFr\u00fchlingslied\u201d, a rushed BWV 850, Debussy\u2019s Minstrels Pr\u00e9lude<\/em>, and finally the same Rachmaninov\/Kreisler that Zhang played, but faster and with more humour. Breen didn\u2019t even come out for a second bow, but I enjoyed myself immensely. Musicians like her are the future.<\/p>\n

Sae Yoon Chon\u2019s evening performance was less convincing: an energetic Beethoven\u2019s Violin Sonata No.1<\/em> with an exquisite 4th variation in the second movement, but stepping on Martin Beaver\u2019s toes elsewhere. He finished his semifinals with a heroic but uneven performance of Liszt\u2019s Piano Sonata in B minor<\/em>, displaying great sensitivity in parts \u2014 bringing out an irony in the Allegro energetico that was new to me \u2014 but not quite mastering the whole.<\/p>\n

The self-assured Philipp Scheucher concluded Sunday night. I wonder if Martin Beaver has a clause in his contract limiting how many competitors can pick the Kreutzer sonata? Or perhaps decency intervened. Whatever, we\u2019ll only hear it once more, tomorrow afternoon. And, that\u2019s fine both for Beaver\u2019s health and for our ears, because it doesn\u2019t get much better than this; a thrilling performance, huge dynamic range and ninja precision, and with a minimal amount of spotlight theft.<\/p>\n

Forcing pianists to ride in the backseat is a test of character, and Scheucher \u2014 who does not exactly lack confidence \u2014 passes. The rest of his program was clever, though not as brave as Breen\u2019s; he is the only semifinalist to pick the third of Kreisler\u2019s Alt-Wiener Tanzweisen<\/em>. None are particularly difficult (or very good) but the variety is greatly appreciated. More interesting was the short and deceptively simple piece that followed. Liszt\u2019s Nuages gris S. 199<\/em> is all anticipation, you think any moment it will explode in Lisztian thunderclaps, but it never does. Scheucher made his own thunder by pairing it with three movements from Petrushka<\/em> by Stravinsky, a confetti storm with percussive blasts of folksong quotations and virtuosic glee that he shrugged off like it was nothing. Still one of the strongest competitors.<\/p>\n

Livestream the 10th Honens International Piano Competition\u00a0[HERE<\/a><\/strong>].<\/p>\n

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This is the third in our series of reports from Calgary following the 10th Honens International Piano Competition from start to finish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":84174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[39907,76,17,19,39,47],"tags":[40313,9511,40312,40314,34179],"yst_prominent_words":[18276,27934,13316,35519,11697],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/Agnie_Zhang_-Honens-2022.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-lTC","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84172"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84172"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84179,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84172\/revisions\/84179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84172"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=84172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}