Music Lane It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes.

---

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Music Lane ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

Day off for the Tchaikovsky Competition today

Posted by Chris from Lafayette (A) on June 23, 2015 at 17:54:45

Round two, stage one, was completed yesterday for the twelve competitors who made it out of the first round. Stage one of the second round was another mini recital with much more freedom in the choice of repertoire than in the first round. (The only stipulation is that this second-round recital has to include some Russian music.) Madeline and I saw almost all of the performances, and we pretty much agreed about our impressions. This listing keeps to the order in which they performed:

• Sergey Redkin (Russia), using a Yamaha, with a program of
  • Johann S. Bach. Toccata in C minor, BWV 911
  • Franz Schubert - Franz Liszt. Aufenthalt, Liebesbotschaft, Der Muller und der Bach, Erlkonig
  • Sergei Prokofiev. Sonata 8 in B-flat major, Op. 84

  Redkin was one I hadn't seen in the first round until after the judges' decisions had already been announced. Strikingly thin (Madeline calls him "Delicate Boy"), Redkin seemed very deserving of his pass into the second round, and I think his second round playing was even better, especially in the Prokofiev Eighth Sonata, in which he effected some marvelous articulation, even (in a couple of spots) outdoing Richter (on that famous DG recording from the 60's). We both say he's one of the top half dozen.

• Maria Mazo (Germany), using a Fazioli, with a program of:
  • Alexander Scriabin. Sonata 4 in F-sharp major, Op. 30
  • Igor Stravinsky. Danse infernale de tous les sujets de Kachtchei, Berceuse, and Finale from The Firebird (transcribed for piano by Guido Agosti)
  • Ludwig van Beethoven. Sonata 29 in B-flat major (Hammerklavier), Op. 106

  You have to give Mazo points for not shying away from the difficulty! After an excellent Scriabin Fourth Sonata, she continued with an impressive performance of Guido Agosti's monstrous transcription of music from Stravinsky's "Firebird", and employed Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata as an after-dinner digestif! She did sound a bit strained in the fugue, so although she gets points for trying, she did reveal some weaknesses. At this point, we would not put her in the top six, although we do feel that she's right on the cusp.

• Reed Tetzloff (USA), using a Steinway, with a program of:
  • Cesar Franck. Prelude, chorale and fugue for piano, M. 21
  • Alexander Scriabin. Piano Sonata 7 ("White Mass"), Op. 64
  • Domenico Scarlatti. Sonata in B minor, K. 27 (L. 449)
  • Charles T. Griffes. Piano Sonata, A. 85
  • Nikolai Kapustin. Variations, Op. 41

  I did not think that Tetzloff deserved to make it into the second round in view of his comparatively messy performances in the first. But, in a way, I'm glad he was allowed in, because of his VERY interesting program choices. He played pretty well, but with a bit more clotting in the textures and more wrong notes than most of the others. In addition, he seemed to have a momentary memory lapse near the end of the Franck and had to re-strike a note. It's certainly not the worst memory slip I've ever heard, but, amazingly, it's the ONLY memory slip I've heard by any of the contestants thus far, and it seemed to rattle him not only though the ending of the Franck, but also into the beginning of the Scriabin. Tetzloff is big on the facial grimacing, and even his facial grimaces seemed affected by his lapse (as if his face were conveying "Goddam! I blew it!"). I love the fact that he inluded the Kapustin Variations on his program, and there was one variation where he seemed to play even faster than Marc-Andre Hamelin, but, overall, we see him as pretty far down the list and not one of the top six.

• Ilya Rashkovsky (Russia), using a Yamaha, with a program of:
  • Robert Schumann. Phantasie in C major, Op. 17
  • Alexander Scriabin. Sonata 10, Op. 70
  • Alexander Scriabin. Sonata 5 in F-sharp major, Op. 53

  Another guy I didn't hear in the first round until after the announdements, but I agree with the judges that he deserved a place in the second. Madeline didn't like his Schumann Fantasy at all, considering it insufficiently nuanced, even though he played the notorious end of the second movement with a minimum of damage (!). I liked his playing a bit better, and I loved that he chose the greatest of the single-movement Scriabin Sonatas - No. 10, aka the "Trill" Sonata, aka the "Insect" Sonata - and I thought he played it well. Still, I think he would just miss the top six for me.

EDIT: Continuation from where I left off earlier today:

• George Li (USA), using a Steinway, with the following program:
  • Sergei Rachmaninov. Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42
  • Franz Liszt. Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 in C-sharp minor, S. 244 (cadenza by Sergei Rachmaninov)
  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Meditation, Op. 72,5; Valse de salon, Op. 51,1
  • Frederic Chopin. Variations "La ci darem la mano" from Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, in B flat major Op. 2 (Jan Ekier edition)

  George Li was not on my radar before this competition, but as you can find out on YouTube, he's been around as a prodigy for a long time. He's another one I didn't foresee getting past the first round, and I now must admit that I was VERY wrong in that assessment! Li's performance of the Liszt Second Hungarian Rhapsody was the most fun, the most brilliant rendition of this piece I ever hope to hear in my lifetime! No easing in to the big tune in the middle of the "friska" section - it's jet propelled from the get go! So unbelievable! At certain camera angles, you could see out into the audience, a great many members of which had big smiles on their faces as Li launched off. This was a wonderful performance that makes me thankful that great music (yes, I DO mean the Liszt Second Hungarian Rhapsody!) can be so renewed over the centuries by the imagination and craft of each new generation. Li's amazing piano solo version of the Chopin-Ekier "La cidarem la mano" Variations was nearly as astonishing as the Liszt. On the Google Groups thread about this competition, some amateur geezer took Li to task over his "childish" program. (I can only pity that poor guy who seems to view such musical cheer as a threat to his own "marmoreal sublimity" conception of classical music.) The medici web site is also reposting some Twitter comments about the various performances, and, just after Li played, they reposted someone's tweet, "George Li is smokin' the competition!" Well, maybe not entirely, but Li's performances were a great discovery for me!

• Lucas Debargue (France), using a Yamaha, with the following program:
  • Nikolai Medtner. Sonata in F minor, Op. 5
  • Maurice Ravel. Gaspard de la nuit

  Here's another pianist from the first round whom I grossly underestimated. And he didn't play just any Medtner Sonata, but one of the more obscure ones, which Medtner wrote when he was only 16! And what a case he made for it - playing like this makes you wonder why this wonderful composer isn't much better known. Is there no more room in the standard repertoire? In any case, Debargue's playing had an ease and a tonal refinement that inspired confidence on the part of the listener. He also had some original ideas in Gaspard too, even if performances by Argerich, Pogorelich et al generate a higher voltage in places. Still, Madeline and I would both pick Debargue as one of the top six.

That's it for today, I'll post about the other six tomorrow.

Edits: 06/24/15 06/25/15

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---