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Tchaikovsky Competition XV performances are complete - Results tomorrow

Posted by Chris from Lafayette (A) on June 30, 2015 at 17:43:16

For the piano final (big-gun concerto) round, this is our take on what we (Madeline and I) heard:

• Sergey Redkin (Russia)
  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Piano Concerto 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23
  • Sergei Prokofiev. Piano Concerto 2 in G minor, Op. 16

  

  Redkin played it pretty conservatively in the first movement of the Tchaikovsky, but did pretty well in the grueling Prokofiev 2 (with its infamous "colossale" first movement cadenza!). This is purely a matter of taste, but we did not feel his interpretations were distinctive enough. But you never know - this year's jury may like middle-of-the-road!

• George Li (USA)
  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Piano Concerto 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23
  • Sergei Prokofiev. Piano Concerto 3 in C major, Op. 26

  

  Is George Li still smokin' the competition? Well. . . yes, at least in some ways. I think that, overall, Li played with the clearest articulation while risking the most with tempo. But already, I'm seeing some grumblings on various discussion boards, e.g., "all fingers and no heart" - that kind of thing. We're both very impressed with his playing on both the technical and musical levels, with Madeline sensing a high degree of drama in his playing.

• Lucas Debargue (France)
  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Piano Concerto 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23
  • Franz Liszt. Piano Concerto 2 in A major, S. 125

  

  In some ways, Debargue is the most original and imaginative interpreter among the finalists, but his relative inexperience in big competitions shows itself from time to time. In this final round, I felt that there was a slight sense of unease in his admitedly inventive interpretations and also just a few too many wrong notes. His placement in the prize order may depend on how willingly the jury overlooks his imperfections in favor of his creative approach to interpretation. (BTW, I read that he has been supporting himself over the last couple of years by playing in jazz clubs!)

• Lukus Geniussas (Russia/Lithuania)
  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Piano Concerto 2 in G major, Op. 44
  • Sergei Rachmaninov. Piano Concerto 3 in D minor, Op. 30

  

  Make no mistake, Geniusas chose the most ambitious program of the final round, in terms of pianistic endurance: two BIG concertos, played about two minutes apart, will challenge even the most robust pianistic skills! (The lesser known Tchaikovsky 2 is much more challenging in this respect than the popular Tchaikovsky 1 is, and of course everyone knows about the difficulty of the Rachmaninoff 3.) It was a gamble that I thought didn't quite pay off. Geniusas gave an impressive performance of the Tchaikovsky, but seemed to run out of gas about midway through the Rachmaninoff, including two memory slips, about two seconds each, one in the coruscating, fantastical "poco piu mosso" section of the slow movement, and one in the finale. These mishaps occured despite the basically conservative approach (moderate tempi - sometimes too moderate) that Geniusas took in this work. Summary: he risked a lot but did not emerge entirely unscathed.

EDIT: Continuation of the OP. . .

• Daniel Kharitonov (Russia)
  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Piano Concerto 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23
  • Franz Liszt. Piano Concerto 1 in E-flat major, S. 124

  

  Kharitonov, only 16 and nicknamed "The Prodigy" in Russia, took the opposite strategy of Geniusas. He played the very short Liszt 1 as his non-Tchaikovsky concerto - not nearly the endurance challenge that Geniusas' choices presented. But he nailed both of his concertos IMHO. I was a bit worried at the end of the first "movement" when Kharitonov took a sappy sounding ritard at the end of his chromatic scale in sixths, and the very beginning of the concerto was awfully slow and stolid. But those were his only indescretions, and the scherzo and finale of the concerto attained Martha Argerich levels of fire and brilliance. He's played great all through the competition, and he and Li are my choices for gold and silver

• Dmitry Masleev (Russia)
  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Piano Concerto 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23
  • Sergei Prokofiev. Piano Concerto 3 in C major, Op. 26

  

  We did not hear Masleev's Tchaikovsky performance - only the Prokofiev 3. He seems to have a huge contingent of fans at the competition, but we were slightly less impressed with him than with a couple of others. His Prokofiev did not seem to have the drive and clarity of Li's, although he did seem to have some good ideas - just imperfectly realized. Unfortunately, we did not have time to revisit his Tchaikovsky performance.

It's much harder to pick the winners from this final round, but here are my picks:

• Gold - Kharitonov
• Silver - Li
• Bronze - Geniusas (based on his Tchaikovsky 2, and despite my negative observations about his Rachmaninoff 3)

Madeline's picks:

• Gold/Silver - Kharitonov/Li (Toss up)
• Bronze - Can't decide, but possible edge to Redkin

We'll see!

p.s.: One final edit - on Sunday, we caught the last two movements of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto extremely well played by Alexandra Conunova, the Moldovan babe finalist in the violin portion competition. What gave this performance additional interest was that the conductor for the violin finals was Yuri Simonov (with the Moscow Philharmonic), an always interesting conductor and, sometimes, a bit of a character (who can, at the same time, conduct the most profound music with deep insight). Half of the violin finalists were (possibly) babes, and the presence of Simonov as the conductor lends additional fascination to these performances. You can bet I'll be watching those videos too (even though I'll already know the outcome by the time I access them.)

Edits: 06/30/15 06/30/15 07/01/15

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