VIRTUOSO: PIANISTS OF THE SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION / Review

VIRTUOSO: PIANISTS OF THE SYDNEY

INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

Decca Eloquence 481 9497 (11 CDs)

 

It has been said that the future of the piano recital lies in piano competitions. That is a broad and sweeping statement, but it cannot be denied that in terms of artistic and repertoire diversity, sheer length and breadth of performances, nothing quite beats the experience of attending  international piano competitions. The Sydney International Piano Competition has been the pre-eminent concours of the Australasian hemisphere since 1977, and continues to strive in a position of strength.

 

This box-set documents sonic snapshots of the Sydney from 1992 to 2016. The live performances were first recorded for issue on the sadly-defunct Soundscapes magazine, once the Ozzie answer to Gramophone. No less than 77 pianists have been represented on 11 discs, although one might search in vain for a household name among them. All first prize winners, from Kong Xiang Dong (1992) to Andrey Gugnin (2016) have at least one track to their names. Specially curated by Universal Music Australia’s Cyrus Meher-Homji (founding editor of Soundscapes),there are simply no duds in the performances captured within. The accompanying essays by him and the competition’s present Artistic Director Piers Lane make for absorbing reading.

Some past winners of the Sydney:
Kong Xiang Dong (1992), Sergei Tarasov (1996),
Avan Yu (2012) and Andrey Gugnin (2016).

 

What about the music? No competition has been won on the strength of baroque or classical era repertoire, thus these have been limited to just two discs. One J.S.Bach Toccata, one Prelude & Fugue, the Bach-Busoni Chaconne, one Handel Chaconne and 15 Scarlatti Sonata performances make up the 80 minutes of CD1. Of the classical sonatas, there are two of Beethoven (Op.53 and 101), one Mozart (K.533/494) and one Haydn (C major, Hob.XVI:48), with a Schubert Moment Musical as filler. Performers include Konstantin Shamray (2008 winner) and Avan Yu (2012 winner).

  

It becomes more predictable in the two discs of Romantic repertoire. Chopin and Liszt dominate the first of these, but there is a smattering of Schumann and Mendelssohn for balance. The second includes Brahms’ Paganini Variations (both books, from 1996 winner Sergei Tarasov and Yoon Soo Rhee), Rachmaninov’s Second Sonata (from Olivier Cazal, 1992 runner-up), selections from Granados’ Goyescas and possibly the best recording of Sergei Taneyev’s Prelude & Fugue Op.29 (from Shamray) since Ashkenazy’s.

 

The variety of 20^th Century repertoire heard at Sydney is staggering, thus meriting three discs. Debussy (whose Préludes were mandatory in editions before 2016) and Ravel are de rigeuer, but there is some Poulenc (the very seldom heard Themè Varié from Hiroshi Arimori, and Presto from Takashi Sato) and two miniatures by Sibelius in the first of these discs. The second is all Russian – Scriabin, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Shchedrin and Kapustin – all performed with requisite flair and élan. The third has most varied choices, from the obligatory Stravinsky Three Dances from Petrushka, Ginastera (Sonata No.1 and Argentinian Dances), Ligeti Études (now competition staples) to unexpected names like Gian Carlo Menotti, Vsevolod Zaderatsky and Elisenda Fábregas.    

 

The disc entitled Transcriptions and Encores serves up sinful delights that audiences love including Percy Grainger (Ramble on Rosenkavalier, Waltz of the Flowers), Adolf Schulz-Evler (Arabesques on Blue Danube), Rachmaninov (Scherzo from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bumble Bee) and more mundane finger-twisters like La Campanella, Islamey, Hexentanz and Perpetuum Mobile (naming their composers would be superfluous). Bringing the house down is Pierre Sancan’s Mouvement, played with incredible panache by his former student Olivier Cazal. The startled and ecstatic audience response has been retained for posterity.

Although not exactly household names,
Olivier Cazal, Konstantin Shamray and
Martin Malmgren provided some stunning highlights.

 

One indictment of piano competitions has been pianists’ over-reliance on late-Romantic Russian piano concertos to rake in plaudits and prize money. Five finalists in 2012 chose Rachmaninov concertos while the sixth picked Tchaikovsky. For the two discs devoted to concertos partnered by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, it is little different. One has the indestructible pairing of Rachmaninov No.3 (with Roberto Cominati) and Prokofiev No.2 (Daniel Hill, who now goes by Daniel De Borah), while the other relives the 1992 competition with Rachmaninov’s Paganini Rhapsody (Vitali Samoschko), Liszt No.1 (Duncan Gifford) and Prokofiev No.3 (the irrepressible Cazal again).

 

Interestingly, Samoschko had earlier been disqualified for not playing his Mozart concerto from memory (having mistakenly learnt a different one!) but was allowed to perform his Rach Pag in the spirit of fair play and camaraderie. He plays the hell out of the piece, such are priceless moments captured in the heat of competition.

 

The one disc that makes this enterprise all the more worthwhile is CD 9, dedicated to 20^th century Australian composers, including specially commissioned set-pieces written for the competition. From 2016, pianists have to include Australian music in their recitals, and even Grainger is permissible. The selection is as varied as contemporary music itself, with usual suspects Peter Sculthorpe (Evocation, Djilile, Nocturne No.1 and Harbour Dreaming) and Carl Vine (all five Bagatelles and Toccatissimo, with no time left for his First Sonata) featuring prominently.

 

One also gets Arthur Benjamin (but not the Jamaican Rumba), Roy Agnew, Graham Hair, Roger Smalley, Andrew Ford, Ann Carr-Boyd, Gordon Kerry and Elena Kats-Chernin. Pride of place, however, goes to Brett Dean’s Equality, a work for vocalising pianist, which the Swede Martin Malmgren completely nails. No spoilers, but that piece of priceless musical theatre alone is another darned good reason to get this box-set.