OLEKSANDR
KORNIEV Violin Recital
with
LIN XIU MIN, Piano
Esplanade
Recital Studio
Thursday
(3 November 2016)
On an evening when Ray Chen packed the
crowds into Esplanade Concert Hall, Ukrainian violinist Oleksandr Korniev did
very well to get a good house at the Esplanade Recital Studio. The final year
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory student (from Qian Zhou's studio) has just won the first prize at the
international violin competition in Almaty (Kazakhstan) and the audience got a
taste of what real virtuosity was all about.
His mastery of solo works – Paganini's Caprice
No.24 and Ysaye's Sixth Sonata – revealed an intricacy of
articulation, perfect intonation and sumptuous tone, all accomplished with
seemingly effortless ease. His innate feel for various native idioms also added
significantly to the charms of Spaniard Sarasate's Romanza Andaluza and
Kreisler's gypsy-inspired La Gitana.
The two major works Cesar Franck's Sonata
in A major and Wieniawski's Faust Fantasy saw him partnered by Lin Xiu
Min, a practising medical doctor rather than a professional accompanist
pianist, on the piano. What was remarkable about Lin was he played all the
piano parts completely from memory, and half the time with his eyes closed. The technical details in the second movement of the Franck had no terrors for
him, while he generated an orchestral sound for the Wieniawski. Their sense of ensemble and rapport was generally excellent in both these virtuoso works, bringing out performances of genuine distinction.
This was a true partnership of uncommon
equals, and their encore was a rhapsodic work of Central Asian flavour by
Korniev's father, composed for him when he was ten years old as an exercise of
some sort. Apparently this was a World Premiere, its extended opening solo (not
unlike Ravel's Tzigane) soon gave way to a raucous dance with piano before
finishing quietly in a soliloquy. It can be surmised that the audience who lapped
up every moment of this spectacular concert did not miss Ray Chen for a single
moment.
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