I cannot begin this review without honoring Drs. Ana Maria and Bruno
Bottazzi and the judges and officials of this competition.
Their vision and determination to make this unique among the mainly
“slaughterhouse” competitions that have become the norm is an immense
contribution. That the winners each
year, regardless of the level or category, are equally unique is a tribute to
the vision and massive effort that goes into the project.
In this reviewer’s opinion, there are pianistic
“entertainers” who use the music to serve their purposes and there are
pianistic “artists” who serve the music.
First and foremost, this is my initial criteria.
Twelve-year-old Mijail Tumanov, from the Ukraine but
living in Costa Rica, was the first prizewinner in Category A.
He opened the concert with the Molto Allegro from the Mozart c minor
Sonata, KV. 547. Communicating more
through an orchestral, Beethoven type of viewpoint, the performance seemed to
lack the delicacy, minute attention to detail and transparency of sound one
tends to expect in a first rate Mozart interpretation.
His “Black Key” Etude by Chopin, Op. 10, No. 5 was full of playful
flair and seemed much more to the pianist’s liking.
The Rachmaninov Elegie, Op. 3, No. 1 was passionate with the big sound
and broad lines and emotional sweep that one might happily expect from such a
gifted young pianist. The Bartok
Roumanian Dance No. 1, Op. 8a, however, seemed to lack the brittle terror of the
many accents and came across more as a heavily pedaled Rachmaninov transcription
of a Bartok dance. The Scriabin
C-sharp minor Study, Op. 2, No. 1 was a surprise.
It was a very restrained, straight-laced performance with no hint of the
lush sound one usually associates with this work.
The Prokofiev Sonata No. 3, Op. 28 concluded Mr. Tumanov’s section.
Throughout, it sounded too fast to delineate the motives clearly and
seemed monotonously studded with heavily pedaled, explosive sound.
In terms of visual art, the performance was more of a “Pollack” than
a “Kandinsky”. The pianist
played two encores: the
Rimsky-Korsakov/Rachmaninov “Flight of the Bumble Bee” with brilliant ease
and the Chopin d minor Prelude, Op. 28, No. 24.
The Prelude seemed overwhelmed by the difficult left hand.
Without question an immensely gifted young pianist, Mijail Tumanov is
someone to watch. I suppose many of
us go through phases of being in love with the “idea” of love rather than
love itself. The same may be true
of a young pianist who is more in love with the “idea” of being a pianist
than the music itself. Hopefully,
this is also a phase.
Hadav Hertzka, a fifteen-year-old pianist from
Israel,
won Category
B. He opened his section with
the Debussy Reflets dans l’eau, which was full of well-modulated, totally
controlled flashes of color. In
this young man it took no time at all to realize he was the servant of the
music. His Haydn C Major Sonata,
Hob. 50, was brimming with crystalline articulation, balance and attention to
the smallest detail that one hopes for in music of the classical period.
He has an innate sense of drama but it is tempered to the context of the
period. Here we had no Mozart
bursting at his seams nor a Haydn wishing he were Beethoven.
The third work in Mr. Hertzka’s portion of the concert was the Liszt b
minor, second Ballade. This often
comes across as a segmented work, but not so in this performance.
There was a cohesive sense of continuity.
All the Lisztian brilliance, at his best, was present but never was it
banal. It was playing with great
nobility of spirit and the audience responded in kind.
The section concluded with the e minor posthumous Waltz of Chopin, which
was full of zip and flair that made the chandeliers dance. For his choice of one encore, the pianist played the Schumann
Traumerie from the Kinderszenen—cementing the picture of this humble and
gifted young man.
The seventeen-year-old Allessia Bernardi of Italy
was the winner in the third category C and concluded the concert.
With great bravery, she opened her section with the f minor Ballade of
Chopin—one of “the” masterpieces of piano literature.
It was a straightforward performance with a full-bodied sound and clearly
sculpted lines. There was a
transparency in her palette of sound that was missing in this great and subdued
composition and I kept hoping for more delicate shaping.
The monstrous coda was handled with clear motives and less heavily
pedaled thunder than is usually heard. In
the Ravel Sonatine, Ms. Bernardi seemed to come into her own, particularly in
the Amine final movement. Controlled
sweeps of well-modulated sound made this a satisfying performance.
She concluded with the “infamous” c sharp minor Prelude of
Rachmaninov, Op. 3, No. 2. “Infamous”
perhaps to a generation or two ago, but not to young listeners.
It was a pleasure to hear it and the audience responded in kind.
As an encore she played the f minor Chopin Etude, Op. 10, No. 9.
A lovely work, its choice was in keeping with her style of playing.
The concert concluded with Dr. Ana Maria Bottazzi
introducing the judges and awarding diplomas to the winners.
A most satisfying concert with divergent styles of playing to suit every
taste. It was announced that the
first prizewinner in the Professional Category, Emi Nakajima from Japan/USA,
would give her solo recital on November 18, 2001 at 2 PM, also in Weill Hall.