CHINA SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2012 / Grand Finals

CHINA SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2012

Grand Finals

Shanghai Concert Hall

Sunday (11 November 2012)

The grand finals of the Shanghai International Piano Competition was held at Shanghai Concert Hall, a converted cinema hall just south of Renmin Guangchang (People’s Square). Its close proximity to Xinshijie (New World), once the entertainment centre and playground of Shanghai’s moneyed and affluent suggests its rather plebeian origins. It resembles some of the minor opera houses in Europe, and is smaller and more intimate than the Shanghai Grand Theatre. I however favour the acoustics here, which although on a dry side is still preferable to the desiccated sonics of the larger and grander venue. 

The finals was accompanied by the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, which had its origins as a film orchestra, conducted by a young 30-something conductor who happens to be my namesake, Zhang Liang (the Chinese characters are exactly the same). The orchestra is wholly Chinese and the playing alert and sensitive, even if there are some raw edges. Due to the dryish acoustics, the sumptuous bloom that usually accompanies the strings is absent, and brass tends to come out with a bleating stridency.   

The pianists performed according to their established order when their lots were first drawn, which is the fairest way of doing things. That meant the first music to be heard was Bartok’s Third Piano Concerto performed by the Chinese lass LIU YILIN. She is a most musical soul, although a tad inexperienced. I will not be surprised to learn if this was the first time she is performing a concerto with an orchestra. 

Raw nerves emerged shortly after the mellow opening, when she lost her place momentarily, and rhythmic insecurities and unsteadiness marred certain passages. The Adagio religioso slow movement however found her at her best. The chorale theme was stated with simplicity and beauty, and the night music segment was delivered with full of colour and spirit. She gradually grew into the work, and the section with rapt woodwind solos was simply beautiful. The finale began well with virtuosity brought to the fore and the fugue subject was played very crisply. Again when the rhythms became more intricate and tricky, there were missed notes, but she recovered well to close with a flourish. Liu is only seventeen, and she will have a lifetime ahead with this concerto and much other music, and I think her overall musicality and true feeling for piano literature will serve her well in the long run. 

Next was HENRY KRAMER, who demonstrated a gulf in experience with his assured performance of Liszt’s First Piano Concerto in E flat major. Again great musicality dictated the proceedings. In the opening salvo of octaves and cadenza, he does not barnstorm in the manner of Argerich, but instead plays these with much dignity and nuance. But this is Liszt, and is he being too polite? The second movement’s nocturne was mellow and moody, livened up by a well-appointed cadenza and very even trills leading to the triangle-led scherzo. The true meaning of scherzando (the sense of playing a joke) was well realised, and that is where the real barnstorming for “Barenboim junior” truly began. With not a single missed note, and doing exactly what is necessary to make the work come alive, have we found the first prize winner?

Followed without a break was JIN WENBIN in Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto in G major (Op.58), arguably the most difficult of the three concertos to interpret. Opening with G major chords on both hands, he confidently set the tone for the work, which was one of great mellowness and musicality. There are neither gimmicks nor gestures bringing attention to oneself, only the joy of music expressed with much alacrity. Yet he was also able to dictate the tenor of the performance, exerting and relenting in equal degree, with the orchestra responding in kind. Taking no untoward chances, he opted for Beethoven’s own usual cadenza which was beautifully shaded. A miscue in synchronising with the orchestra’s entry provided the only blemish.

The short but dramatic slow movement – contrasting brusque strings with lush piano chords – was gorgeously handled, fully living up to the legend of Orpheus taming the Furies. The finale was another display of unadulterated joy and the ecstasy of being alive. Jin has this in loads, and his artistry is matched with very strong and secure technical capabilities. Could we now have a two way tie for the first prize?

The three semi-finalists (from L): Hao Yilei, Zhu Wanchen and Bruno Vlahek.

Unlike many competitions where the jury takes an agonising long time to decide its winners, this one was particularly short. The other three semi-finalists were given a chance to perform again, Hao Yilei in Ravel, Zhu Wanchen in Liebermann and Bruno Vlahek in Scarlatti. With the spotlight of competition now extinguished, there was a certain casualness to the playing, but Vlahek still meant business in the three Scarlatti sonatas he offered, as if to demonstrate that his elimination from the semi-finals was a mistake.

The miscellaneous prizes were announced first:

Best performance of Commissioned Work: JIN WENBIN

Best Lieder accompanist: HENRY KRAMER

Best Chinese pianist: JIN WENBIN

   

Chairman of the Jury, Gary Graffman, then read out that the First Prize would not be awarded, and there would be a tie for Second Prize. The mostly Chinese audience gave a gasp of surprise only after the translation into Chinese was complete. With that the final placings were already decided, and the rest became an anti-climax of sorts.

For the record, here are the final placings:

2ND PRIZE (Ex-aequo):  HENRY KRAMER and JIN WENBIN

3RD PRIZE: LIU YILIN 

The three finalists (from L): Jin Wenbin, Henry Kramer and Liu Yilin, with Gary Graffman and Idil Biret.

Was my effort of flying to Shanghai worth all the trouble? An emphatic “yes”, because the later rounds of this competition was a display of high levels of musicality (and undoubted virtuosity as well) from all the musicians I had heard. There was very little to separate the quarter-finalists, and even less to separate the semi-finalists playing in their respective rounds. Given the same cohort of pianists in a different competition with a different set of judges, the result might have been very different. A musician of the quality of Sun Jun, Abdiel Vasquez or Bruno Vlahek might have won first prize in a different setting. With fewer participants, the performance rounds in the quarter and semi-finals were limited to the afternoons, and there was ample time to do sightseeing, shopping, catch dinner and stroll on the Bund afterwards.

The competition was very well organised and the atmosphere was congenial throughout. There were opportunities to mingle with the jury, many of whom had passed through Singapore over the years and provided me with marvellous musical memories. The He Luting Concert Hall at the Conservatory had very good acoustics for the two Steinway grands to bloom, and Shanghai Concert Hall provided a nice cameo or the finals. Most of all, music was the winner, and that is the long and short of it all.    

  

CHINA SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2012 / Semi-finals

6^TH CHINA SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

Semi Finals

Friday (9 November 2012)

Six pianists have been selected for the semi-finals, which consists of a 45 minute programme to include a newly commissioned work and two Richard Strauss lieder, accompanying a soprano. These specific requirements may be performed in any sequence during the allotted time. 

The Chinese composer Wang Jianzhong (right), whose commissioned work Capriccio was performed by the semi-finalists, speaks with Chinese jury member Wu Ying.

The new work was Capriccio by Wang Jianzhong, the venerated Chinese composer and transcriber of such popular standards like Liu Yang River, Calm River in an Autumn Night and Thousand Birds Pay Homage to the Phoenix. It is a pleasant 7-minute scherzo-like piece in sonata form, with a skittish ballabile contrasted with a more lyrical second theme. It does not sound explicitly Chinese, but its predominance of the whole tone scale and use of arpeggios point clearly to Debussy as an influence. Claude-Achille goes to Shanghai perhaps? All the pianists gave competent and even sympathetic accounts, and I would hazard to say that the Chinese pianists do not have a distinct advantage here. Anyway, they were playing to a mostly Western jury, although the composer himself was in attendance in all the rounds. All performed with the score, with the exception of Bruno Vlahek who had the chutzpah of commiting it to memory.

With both pianist and soprano dressed in stunning  red, is this the :Red Detachment of Women"?  The partially obstructing handbag belongs to Oxana Yablonskaya. Ah,... women!

I really do not see the point of having Lieder accompaniment as an essential part of a competition. What if a pianist does not accompany well although the rest of his playing is excellent? Will that militate against his or her inclusion in the finals? Anyway, it gave us all the pleasure of hearing and seeing the very pretty soprano Li Qian, attired in hong bao red, in the varied delights of Richard Strauss’s Cacilie and Morgen!  

 

The semi-finals opened with HAO YILEI (China), who had impressed with his prodigiousness in the quarter-finals. In my opinion, it was a mistake of his to build a semi-final programme wholly on short pieces. He started with four varied Scarlatti sonatas, and without playing any repeats, gave only a fleeting impression of the pieces. The same applied to the five Scriabin Etudes from Op.8, despite displaying much proficiency in their thorny technical challenges. The fearsome Study in Thirds (Op.8 No.10) completed an impressive showing. The larger pieces were Une barque sur l’ocean and Alborada del gracioso from Ravel’s Miroirs, which provided a wash of colour and rather smooth glissandi.

ZHU WANCHEN (China) clearly has the fingers for Chopin’s First Ballade in G minor (Op.23), but in his efforts to impress by sheer velocity and going for broke, he missed more than a few notes along the way. His view of Schubert’s late Sonata in C minor (D.958) was a very persuasive one, even if it was that of a young person unburdened by the weariness of the world. The tragi-heroic opening resounded with a declamatory salute, contrasted with lyrical Lieder-like moments that portended drama and tragedy. He seems to revel in those vertiginous runs on the right hand, which held no terrors for this speedster. The under-stated beauty of the slow movement however revealed him at his best, a sensitive soul when he chooses to be. The tarantella finale was repetitious (as Schubert’s finales tend to be), but he kept it interesting with a fleet-fingered approach, some nice touches and the sort of humour that best defines Schubert’s music.

The only woman in the semi-finals was LIU YILIN (China), who wisely chose just two Scarlatti sonatas – in F major (K.518) and F minor (K.481) – and without eschewing the repeats. Clean staccato playing, distinguished by clarity and fluidity in the former contrasted well with the sorrow and desolation evoked in the latter. Advantage Liu over Hao. In Prokofiev’s Sixth Sonata in A major (Op.82), she gave a surprisingly nuanced performance, balancing a pulverising brute force in the outer movements with lyricism and droll wit of the middle movements. With her, the pauses and silences between passages meant something special. Even the lacerating finale was gradually built up from a calm sotto voce to the final scorching conflagration. It was not guns blazing from the start, and that worked psychologically to perfection. The re-introduction of the first movement’s motif also became a moment to remember. I was about to hail this performance to be the equal of Yuja Wang’s (at the 2010 Singapore International Piano Festival) when a bad stumble near the finish line threatened to derail her earlier sterling efforts.

BRUNO VLAHEK (Croatia) was the first of two non-Chinese semi-finalists to perform. True to his penchant for offbeat repertoire, he opened with Grieg’s 18-minute long Ballade in G minor. Unlike Chopin’s famous number, this is in the theme and variations form, much akin to Mendelssohn’s spectacular Variations Serieuses. The work does plod on for a while, but his playing was always engaging, making each variation count. And there was always something interesting about, the finery of filigree or the jocularity of a folkdance. Grieg even provides a false ending, in an unresolved E flat major chord, a longish pause before closing in the home key. Vlahek worked these to a fine art. After the set-pieces, he closed with the Liszt-Busoni Fantasia on Two Motifs from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. These motifs were, of course, from Non piu andrai and Voi che sapete. It is an exhausting work for both pianist and listener, and by mid-way, he had lost me. The closing was nothing more than a succession of loud notes and cascades, which by this time, had become a bit of a bore. In the words of Emperor Franz Josef to Mozart on one of his operas, I quote, “Too many notes, my friend.”

HENRY KRAMER (USA) appears to be the most confident pianist of the lot, one who is totally comfortable with himself. This showed in his playing here, as in the quarter-final round. Beginning with Chopin’s Fourth Ballade in F minor (Op.52), his reading came close to the perfect conception of this masterpiece, opening with unadorned simplicity and working his way through the variations to a feverish climax. Even in the terrifying coda, absolute clarity and no over-pedalling concluded this moving and probing account. Only in a piano competition will one get to hear two performances of Prokofiev’s Sixth Sonata in the same afternoon. It is a wearying piece but in Kramer’s hands, all the contrasts came out very well. He packed in more savage power than the slender Liu, but had his own moment of insecurity in the first movement. He captured well the paradox that is Prokofiev, brutality and sentimentality to equal degree. The finale was encapsulated not by a binding onslaught of loud notes, but mystery and menace, which in my opinion is a far more potent force. 

The final semi-finalist was JIN WENBIN (China) who began his solos with the eight Fantasiestucke (Op.12) by Schumann. For me he is the pianist who expresses the greatest joy and wonderment in his playing. Everything comes across as fresh and unhackneyed, as he has always something interesting to convey, even in the most familiar of pieces. The full gamut of feelings and expressions were gratefully realised in these pieces, from the gentle lyricism of Des Abends to the dizzying delights of Traumes Wirren. Being devastatingly accurate was just part of the story, the whimsy and intimacy offered were far more valuable qualities. To round off a totally musical outing was Liszt’s rather vulgar transcription of the Waltz from Gounod’s Faust. In his view, it sounds positively joyous as his flying fingers took it into the realm of fantasy. There is a section for ad-libbing, which he reciprocated with the most magical of scales and the most even and gentlest trilling of a nightingale.  

I have two rather obvious standouts for finalist status: HENRY KRAMER and JIN WENBIN. The third final spot ought go to either LIU YILIN or ZHU WANCHEN. The jury must have read my mind as they opted for as their top three:

LIU YILIN

HENRY KRAMER and

JIN WENBIN

With no Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky or Brahms concertos figuring in the finals on Sunday, it looks like it is going to be a rather short evening. 

Pianomaniacs unite! The world's greatest piano competition buff Dr Gustav Alink meets with Singapore's most rabid piano competition buff.

CHINA SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2012 / Quarter-Finals Day 1

Here I am in Shanghai, attending for my first time its international piano competition, organised by the Centre for China Shanghai International Arts Festival and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. When I first scanned the names of the 42 pianists taking part, there was hardly a name I knew. I learnt that some pianists had won competition prizes elsewhere, but what was their playing really like? 

The competition judges gather: Gary Graffman has some words with Peter Frankl (left), while  Oxana Yablonskaya  gives a television interview (right).

The list of judges was a reassuringly familiar one, headed by Gary Graffman, and flanked by no less than Peter Frankl, Dimitri Bashkirov, Anton Kuerti, Oxana Yablonskaya, Idil Biret and a coterie of Chinese judges who are well known locally. But is that a guarantee that the playing will be good?

By this afternoon, 30 pianists had already been sent home, leaving 12 quarter-finalists, six of whom will feature at each session. Each had to perform a 45 minute programme including a Beethoven sonata. Fair enough, Beethoven has always been epicentre of all piano repertoire requirements, so you aren’t a real pianist unless you play Beethoven. But why exclude the three “easy” sonatas – Op.49 and Op.79? Does not mastery in those miniatures also say something of the pianist?

Tickets to these sessions were free, but one had to apply for them in advance. Fortunately I had earlier written to the organisers, and an envelope of tickets was gratefully received just minutes before the doors opened. The audience soon filled up He Luting Concert Hall at the Conservatory to the brim, occupied overwhelmingly by women of all ages. Where were the men, don’t they care for music too?

The pianist to perform was KONG JIANING (China), who won 6^th prize at the Leeds Competition 2009, behind the likes of Sofya Gulyak and Rachel Cheung. A sensitive player, he brought out the contrasts in the first movement of Beethoven’s E minor Sonata (Op.90) very well, the declamatory opening and its fawning reply. In the Schubertian second movement, the singing qualities came out to the fore with warmth and much seamlessness. Only a short lapse of concentration towards the end blotted his copybook.

What was annoying was the presence of one burly cameraman attired in army fatigues who at first partially obstructed the view, and then sat down in front to fiddle with his handphone, the constant illumination from the screen being a tiresome distraction. Thankfully when Kong’s Liszt B minor Sonata began, he had been lulled to a dreamy repose. That’s not to say that the performance was boring. Far from it, Kong opened strongly with a grand statement of the themes and his octave technique was exemplary. While he was an excellent guide through its emotional ups and downs, there were those small slips here and down which might pass in a recital, but in a competition these may be less forgiving.

Next up was TUOMAS KYYHKYNEN (Finland), who had the appearance of a burly Baltic or Russian (a younger version of Volodos, perhaps?). Another sensitive player, but he is one who also had the chops for big moments. Beethoven’s A major Sonata (Op.101) was such a piece, with its retiring first movement theme which unfolded nicely within his hands, contrasted with the second movement’s emphatic march. When the former re-emerged from the depths of the slow movement, it did so with a nice sense of déjà vu, before closing with a heroic fugue, one feature of Beethoven’ s late sonatas.

Next, I was re-acquainted with Howard Blake’s Speech After Long Silence, that marvellous piece of post-Romanticism last heard at the Hong Kong International Piano Competition in 2011 as its “commissioned work”. Kyyhkynen had been one of the participants there, but he did not get far enough to perform it at the finals. But bless him for deeming it worthy to be included here in Shanghai. He did a good job, equal or better than some of the Hong Kong finalists, bringing out its Rachmaninov-like melancholy and tolling bells with much plangent fervour. (A little scandal was that Speech had its world premiere in Shanghai and not Hong Kong, as Blake had originally written it for the 2010 Shanghai Expo and later recycled it verbatim for the Hong Kong competition.) Nevertheless, it is still good music, worth listening to over again. He then finished off spectacularly with Liszt’s Vallee d’Obermann, a work that shares similar qualities with Speech, brooding lament followed by extreme ecstasy.

HAO YILEI (China) is a bespectacled young man would normally not stand out in a crowd of Chinese faces, but his playing did. Beginning with Beethoven’s Sonata in A flat major (Op.110), one was struck by his lack of affectation in the simple opening theme, one which he built up beautifully. Even the contrasting country dance of its second movement was taken in the right spirit of Beethoven letting down his hair. The air of seriousness in the slow movement just gave way to the fugue, which he played with much clarity, building arch-like to the arietta’s return and the fugal subject’s inversion. His sense of architecture was faultless as he worked to a brilliant close.

His choice of two contrasting Debussy Preludes from Book Two was also excellent, the utter simplicity of Bruyeres interjected with the clown-like swagger of General Lavine… eccentrique. Then came the final showdown with Liszt’s Dante Sonata and its parade of tritones, piling dissonance and crashing chords. Yet there was no empty bluster in Hao’s conception of the work, which he narrated like an expert story-teller. The journey through the inferno was a harrowing one, with tongues of fire and the screams of the damned portrayed with great immediacy. His technique held up winningly and nary a slip or stumble to be heard. In the tremolo episode, one began to see the light and sense the dawn of hope. It was such a reading that would send a house in raptures. But this being Asia and not Texas, the audience was quietly respectful and undemonstrative in applause. Here is a potential finalist, and to my surprise, he is only sixteen!

The first woman to perform in the quarter-finals was MAKI WIEDERKEHR (Switzerland), possibly of mixed-Japanese descent, who offered Beethoven’s E major Sonata (Op.109). Her androgynous appearance in long pants, instead of the customary dress gown, was a first! Fortunately her playing was not workmanlike, with the sonata’s first movement coming across wistfully and quite beautifully, contrasted with the Prestissimo’s passionate outburst. The Theme and Variations that followed had a feel of stateliness in the theme, and the variations wonderfully crafted. The staccato lightness and busy counterpoint in the first and third variations showed her musicality, before closing with quite sublime thrills.

The choice of Cesar Franck’s Prelude, Chorale and Fugue to close made her programme a rather austere one when it should not have been the case. The Prelude sounded dead serious in B minor but not without some luminous moments, and the Chorale that followed seemed to drag on for a while. Through the broken chords, the chant-like melody was never lost, and equally well-defined was the final Fugue, where she spun a sonorous web of counterpoint, rock steady to the very end. It was exhausting listening, but satisfying nonetheless. One wonders if it had been better if she started with the Franck and ended with Beethoven.

If there were a prize for ingenious programming, that would go to ZHU WANCHEN (China), who opened his recital with Nikolai Medtner’s Canzona Matinata and Sonata Tragica from the Forgotten Melodies Op.39.  These companion pieces could not be more different, lyrical with a fantasy of filigree followed by extreme vehemence and violence. His delicate finger-work in the Canzona should only be heard to be believed, while the shockwave of sonorities in the Sonata impressed not because of the sheer volume but by the intelligent way in which he builds up the drama before dealing a final head-blow which the likes of Demidenko and Hamelin might have been proud of.

The tragic key of C minor continued into Beethoven’s Op.10 No.1 Sonata, with its dramatic opening in dotted rhythm, which was delivered with much crispness and incisiveness. The A flat major slow movement provided some respite before closing with a scherzo-like finale which had a playful sense of mischief about it. Speaking of mischief-making, Zhu’s choice of Lowell Liebermann’s Gargoyles was also an excellent one. Popularised by Stephen Hough, these four character pieces from the 20^th century pitted the diabolical and grotesque with the dreamy and ghostly, before closing with swashbuckling bravura. Zhu is one pianist I can safely recommend for the next round.     

It was past six in the evening when LIU YILIN (China) took to the platform, and one could be forgiven for satiety and exhaustion by this time. Even Des Abends, the first piece from Schumann’s Fantasy Pieces Op.12, sounded appropriate as its nocturnal theme began to sink in. It was the sheer variety of these characteristic pieces which prevented boredom from setting in. Aufschwung soared, while Warum? probed, and you know the rest. The young lady’s technique held up well for the more difficult numbers such as In Der Nacht, and the vertiginous Traumes Wirren, before the valedictory closing piece. Thankfully, her Beethoven Sonata was a short one, the same E minor Op.90 that opened the afternoon’s session. If there were some basis for comparison, I would say hers had more colour and contrasts, and coming from tired ears, that’s saying a bit. 

As if tagged on as an encore, Ravel’s Un barque sur l’ocean from Miroirs, provided a most joyous rush of sound. The ripples built up into waves that lapped and tossed the little boat, and never had this piece sounded so freshly spun. The audience had to endure another asinine intrusion as one old lady fiddled endlessly with a polythene bag and binoculars (May I uncharitably add that that bag would have found a perfect fit over her face), but that did little to dampen the beauty that was issuing from the piano.

CHINA SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2012 / Quarter-Finals Day 2

6^TH CHINA SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

Quarter Finals Day Two

Thursday (8 November 2012)

Here we go again. The second session of the quarter-finals was opened by ABDIEL VASQUEZ (Mexico), with Beethoven’s E major Sonata Op.109. It is a very musical account, fluid in the statement of themes, and well contrasted with the Prestissimo’s strong and emphatic accents. The chorale melody in final Theme and Variations was well stated, and the variations unfolded deliberately but there was a sense of direction where the music was going. Overall it was a very competent reading, with little to separate him from the Swiss girl Wiederkehr’s earlier performance.

Vasquez certainly has a sense of humour by adding Nikolai Kapustin’s quaint little single-movement Sonatina Op.100 between the two main works, as if to mock the exclusion of Beethoven’s “little sonatas”. Performed with such zest and cognizance of the jazz idiom, it is a wonder why not many pianists adopt it as a matter of programming variety. He signed off with Rachmaninov’s Second Sonata in the shorter 1931 version. It is a solid performance, smouldering in intent and full of the bell sounds the Russian composer so loved. In the second movement, he attempted to bring out inner melodies, perhaps trying a little too hard when others just play it straight. The coruscating finale has a few missed notes, but that mattered little in this thunderous reading which had a mastery of sonority.

MICHAEL NOBLE (USA) played next, and he must have had a bad day in the office. Despite an obvious sympathy for the music selected, which he displayed in fits and starts, mistakes and memory lapses plagued his accounts of Liszt’s Les jeux d’eau a la Villa d’Este, Scriabin’s Second Sonata and Beethoven’s A major Sonata Op.101. He appears to be the weakest of the 12 quarter-finalists.

After him, SUN JUN (China) stood out with a most confident performance of Beethoven’s final Sonata in C minor (Op.111). To say that he is technically superior with an immaculacy of note perfection would be an understatement. The stridency of the first movement, its gravity and high tragedy was captured with an unapologetic aplomb. He seems to fully understand and project Beethoven’s pain and angst as an extension of his own musical soul. The spirituality of the Arietta was plain for all to see (and hear), and the variations proceeded with a magisterial magnificence, slow at first encounter but patience was rewarded with the syncopated “jazz” variation that leapt out of the pages with pure unadulterated joy. If Beethoven was credited to have invented jazz here, he might also be responsible for inventing “tintinnabulation” in the subsequent variations, where Sun’s even and refined trills filled the air with resplendence.

After this spiritual journey, Sun took a longer than usual break before embarking on Samuel Barber’s Sonata Op.26, one of the great piano works of the 20^th century. Its dissonance and seemingly atonal opening gambit seemed to echo the Beethoven, but the apparent spikiness belied a lyricism which the performance mined with great purpose. This was to be found in the mercurial Scherzo, a manic little waltz, and the funereal slow movement with its wails of anguish. The finale’s fugue revealed no nerves from this young man, who steady like a ship, negotiated its treacherous course not with grim-faced determination, but with humour and warmth. A semi-final place beckons.

Credit BRUNO VLAHEK (Croatia) for selecting three contrasting Scarlatti Sonatas to begin, all of which provide ample display of his technical prowess; crispness in A major (K.209), pathos and tragedy in D minor (K.32) with small variations in the repeats, and prestidigitation in G major (K.427). If Scarlatti had written “Vive felice” or “Live well!” to precede these studies, he probably had these performances in mind. The A major Sonata (Op.101) of Beethoven has become the quarter-finals’ most performed work (no less than three readings this afternoon), little wonder as it gives the pianist the greatest scope for expression. Vlahek’s view is up there with the best, displaying a wide range of emotions, with the palpable sadness of the third movement giving way to a nostalgic relook of the first movement’s opening. The bravura of the final fugue was merely a prelude to his closing work, the Guido Agosti transcription of movements from Stravinsky’s Firebird.

King Kaschei’s Danse Infernale erupted with massive A minor octaves, as momentous an opening to compare with Stravinsky’s own Three Movements from Petrushka. I imagine this transcription to be even more virtuosic than Stravinsky could muster himself, and Vlahek’s performance more than held up to scrutiny. Even if one misses the orchestral colours, there was no lack of pace and momentum to drive the music towards it intoxicated end. The quiet Berceuse stood out with its beautiful harmonies, while the Finale provided yet another blaze of decibels. Another good semi-final bet.

We’re getting to the business end of the quarter-finals, and the quality seems to be rising as well. I have never heard of HENRY KRAMER (USA) prior to this competition but he appears to be the one to beat. Of the four performances of Beethoven’s A major Sonata (op.101), his has to be the most complete in terms of conception, technique and aural beauty. He produced a most exceptionally rich sound, big-boned in certain respects yet intimate when it mattered. He traversed the music’s wide-ranging emotions with great sensitivity, wistful for the opening theme and sombre in the third movement, and when the gloves came off for the second movement’s march and the valedictory finale, he swept everything before him.

Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit also received a close to perfect performance. His silky tremolos in Ondine was achieved with an enviable evenness - pianissimo throughout – before building up to a tumultuous tsunami of a climax. The droll tolling of the bell in Le gibet was haunting and hypnotic, casting a spell which soon dissipated with the appearance of Scarbo. Here the full dynamic range of Kramer’s armamentarium was unleashed with a vengeance, as the shrieks of the diabolical goblin leapt memorably into consciousness. His repeated note technique was superb, and the way he launched into the coruscating climaxes was breathtaking. Kramer, who resembles a young Barenboim, looks and sounds like a potential winner.

Not to be underestimated was the twelfth and final quarter-finalist JIN WENBIN (China), who frankly does not even look a pianist. Yet when his fingers caressed the opening chords of Beethoven’s A flat major Sonata (Op.110), the refined and intimate sound stood him out to be someone special. The sequences of arpeggios that followed, often rendered mechanically in lesser hands, seemed to weave a web of fantasy. This was a performance hard to dislike, with not a trite note to be heard. Everything was played with purpose, integrity and above all, an over-arching beauty. The third movement moved from the greyness of melancholy in the arietta to the distant but looming light of the fugue, which had the clarity of crystal. He truly knows the meaning of crescendo, generating a pipe organ-like sonority in the grandstanding close. The last time I heard anything like this was in the magnificence of a certain Arcadi Volodos.

The last music of the quarter-finals was Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy, often the graveyard of many an over-ambitious pianist. Here, Jin was solid as a rock, the opening chords delivered emphatically and with great confidence. Nothing seems to faze this young man. The desolation of the Wanderer theme in the second movement was well captured, as were the ensuing variations which were colourfully rendered. The right hand’s filigree came across most vividly in his prodigious fingers. Even the treacherous third movement was handled with grace, with none of the banging which the music seems to invite. His reserves were finally summoned for the mighty final fugue, where the notes began to pile up until one is totally overwhelmed. No fears for Jin, whose tour de force of control won the day. This may be Schubert’s most virtuosic showpiece, but Jin made it sound like a piece of true artistry.

My verdict: There should at least be four Chinese pianists who will make the semi-finals. They are, in my humble opinion, HAO YILEI, ZHU WANCHEN, SUN JUN and JIN WENBIN (and possibly LIU YILIN). In their company should also be BRUNO VLAHEK and HENRY KRAMER (and possibly ABDIEL VASQEZ).    

The jury’s verdict was fairly similar: 

HAO YILEI

ZHU WANCHEN

LIU YILIN

BRUNO VLAHEK

HENRY KRAMER.   

JIN WENBIN  

My heart goes out to the eliminated SUN JUN, who was wonderful in Beethoven Op.111 and Barber. Commiserations also go to ABDIEL VASQUEZ whose nice trick was to insert the encore-like Kapustin Sonatina between the titans of Beethoven Op.101 and Rachmaninov Op.36. They did not put a foot wrong, except being in the company of other exceptional musical talents.

6TH CHINA SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION: 12 Quarter-finalists named

The 12 quarter-finalists of the 6th China Shanghai International Piano Competition have been named. They will each perform a 40-45 minute solo programme on Wednesday and Thursday (7 & 8 November 2012) at the Shanghai Conservatory. Six semifinalists and three finalists will subsequently be chosen. The finals takes place on Sunday 11 November at the Shanghai Concert Hall where the finalists will perform a piano concerto with the orchestra in residence. The winner takes home a bounty of USD 30,000.

The Quarter-finalists are:

Kong Jianing (China)

Tuomas Kyykhkynen (Finland)

Hao Yilei (China)

Maki Wiederkehr (Switzerland)

Zhu Wanchen (China)

Liu Yilin (China)

Abdiel Vasquez (Mexico)

Michael Noble (USA)

Sun Jun (China)

Bruno Vlahek (Croatia)

Henry Kramer (USA)

Jin Wenbin (China)

The quarter-finalists were chosen from a preliminary round of 42 accepted pianists who performed from 3 to 5 November 2012. All in all, 111 pianists applied for the competition.

Shanghai Conservatory of Music (left) and Shanghai Concert Hall (right).