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Cleveland International Piano Competition: a chat with the Final Four before the concerto round

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by Daniel Hathaway

CIPC Finalists

L-R: Kyu Yeon Kim, Eric Zuber, Alexander Schimpf, Alexey Chernov (photo: DH)

By Wednesday evening, when the Semifinal Round ended, we had gotten to know a lot about the pianistic personalities of twenty-six musicians, but we were eager to learn more about the four Finalists. The Competition kindly provided the opportunity to chat with them in pairs in Reinberger Chamber Music Hall just before their individual séances with conductor Christopher Wilkins at Severance Hall on Thursday, when each would talk through their chosen concerto for the Final Round on Friday and Saturday with The Cleveland Orchestra.

First, we wanted to know how the four came to the piano in the first place, and when the magic moment arrived when each decided to pursue a professional career. For three of the players, there were already professional musicians in the family who facilitated their early discovery of music. [Read more…]

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Cleveland International Piano Competition: The Finalists

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Cleveland, OH — August 3, 2011


The four finalists, who will play concertos with The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall under maestro Christopher Wilkins, were announced late Wednesday evening at the Cleveland Play House (photos left to right in performance order). The performances will be broadcast live over WCLV, 104.9 FM but will not be available on the Web. For tickets, call the Severance Hall Box Office, 216.231.1111 or order online. The winners will be announced at the end of Saturday’s performance, and the four finalists will give encore performances of solo repertory on Sunday at 3 during the Awards Ceremony in Severance Hall (tickets required).

Friday, August 5 at 8 pm

Kyu Yeon Kim (Brahms, Concerto No. 1)
Eric Zuber (Rachmaninoff, Concerto No. 2)

Saturday, August 6 at 8 pm

Alexey Chernov (Brahms, Concerto No. 1)
Alexander Schimpf (Beethoven, Concerto No. 4)

Cleveland International Piano Competition: Semifinal Round, Session 4

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by Daniel Hathaway

Cleveland, OH — August 3, 2011

Schimpf

Alexander Schimpf

Alexander Schimpf (29, Germany) and Mateusz Borowiak (23, UK/Poland) closed out the Semifinal Round on Wednesday evening at the Cleveland Play House’s Bolton Theater — and marked the end of the Cleveland International Piano Competition’s occupancy there. The buildings have been sold to the Cleveland Clinic, and the Play House is moving to new digs in Playhouse Square.

Mr. Schimpf began with a single Debussy Prelude, moved on to one of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies and concluded with Schubert’s last Sonata. The lone Debussy Prelude (La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune from Book Two) made for a strange opening gesture and was really too brief to make much of an impression. Mr. Schimpf’s Liszt, the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 in c-sharp, was spirited, but not very digitally tidy (lots of nicked notes), and contrasted murky low-lying chords with crystalline Hungarian dance tunes at the treble end of the keyboard. [Read more…]

Cleveland International Piano Competition: Semifinal Round, Session 3

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By Daniel Hathaway

Cleveland, OH — August 3, 2011

Zuber

Eric Zuber

Apollo returned to watch over the Cleveland International Piano Competition on Tuesday afternoon, having taken Monday off and left the proceedings in the hands of Dionysius, who was up to his usual mischief. In sequential, one hour recitals, Eric Zuber (26, USA) and Alexey Chernov (28, Russia) restored our musical equilibrium with beautiful performances of Schumann, Debussy, Liszt, Beethoven and Ravel.

Mr. Zuber led off with Schumann’s Scenes from Childhood, op. 15, a baker’s dozen of short reminiscences of the composer’s own childhood. The original title was “Easy Pieces”, which might make one wonder why a pianist would choose these over more virtuosic repertory for the penultimate round of a big competition. The answer is that each one is an exquisite stanza or two of poetry that allows the performer to explore different affects and colors — exactly what Mr. Zuber skillfully did with them. [Read more…]

Cleveland International Piano Competition: Semifinal Round, Session 2

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By Daniel Hathaway

Cleveland, OH — August 2, 2011

HuhMr. Jae-Weon Huh (25, Korea), a tall, lanky pianist with long fingers, took the stage first on Tuesday evening for his Semifinal round of pieces by Schumann, Ravel and Rachmaninoff. Schumann’s Kreisleriana began promisingly, well-paced and logical, then veered out of control soon after. Mr. Huh found his balance again, producing lovely, dreamy, poetic colors in soft, slow episodes but often went over the top in fast and furious movement, where he tended toward harshness of touch. Ravel’s Ondine from Gaspard de la nuit had fine moments of nervous tremolos and big climaxes which contrasted with diaphanous timbres and more bursts of energy. But what was up with his Rachmaninoff (the second Sonata, op. 36, revised version)? After big, splashy opening gestures, the piece ballooned into a superscaled essay in sheer pianism that its composer might not have conceived even in his most extroverted moments. Sure, there were colorful, poetic moments, adroit layerings of lines and some brilliant ringing climaxes, but what we’ll take away from this performance is the huge, noisy finale during which the Steinway seemed to cry out in pain, so thoroughly did Mr. Huh pummel its keys. Like Ms. Kim who preceded him in the afternoon, he did some heavy breathing of his own during his set. [Read more…]

Cleveland International Piano Competition: Semifinal Round, Session 1

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By Daniel Hathaway

Cleveland, OH — August 2, 2011

After Monday evening’s jury decision that took eighteen pianists out of the running — among them, perplexingly, at least three superb musicians who had played some of the most shapely, intelligent and coherent performances of anyone in the first two rounds — the Semifinal Round should demand that the eight remaining contestants be held to extremely high standards of interpretation. Everyone who has marched up to the Steinway this week has demonstrated extraordinary and reliable technique, but not everyone has proved that they have the analytical skills to put that technique to use in shaping cogent performances of the repertory they’ve chosen to play.

The strange patterns that can result from intentional randomness lined up four Asian contestants for the two sessions on Tuesday. [Read more…]

Cleveland International Piano Competition: eight advance to the Semi-finals

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By Daniel Hathaway

Cleveland, OH — August 1, 2011

The jury has selected eight pianists to advance to the Semi-final round of the Cleveland International Piano Competition. The following names were read from the stage of the Bolton Theater at the Cleveland Play House tonight at 10:45 pm by jury chairman Peter Frankl, following the sixth session of the second round. Each will play one hour recitals during the afternoon and evening sessions on August 2 and 3, and four finalists will play concertos with The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall on August 5 and 6.

Tuesday, August 2 at 1pm*

Ms. Kyu Yeon Kim (25, Korea)

Mr. Yunjie Chen (30, China)

Tuesday, August 2 at 7 pm

Mr. Jae-Weon Huh (24, Korea)

Ms. EunAe Lee (23, Korea)

Wednesday, August 3 at 1pm*

Mr. Eric Zuber (26, USA)

Mr. Alexey Chernov (28, Russia)

Wednesday, August 3 at 7 pm

Mr. Alexander Schimpf (29, Germany)

Mr. Mateusz Borowiak (23, UK/Poland)

* please note the corrected start time.

Cleveland International Piano Competition: Round 2, Session 6

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By Daniel Hathaway

Cleveland, OH — August 1, 2011

Contestants 23 through 26 stepped up to the Hamburg Steinway on Monday evening to conclude the second round, after which eight pianists would be tapped to advance to the Semifinals.

Ms. Soo-Yeon Ham (25, Korea) chose Chopin’s Twelve Etudes of op. 25 for her second time at bat. She was consistently impressive in her technique, touch and articulation, but underwhelming in her range of dynamics and sense of drama. The tenth piece, the “Octave” Etude began softly with much rubato and pedal and achived the highest dynamic level so far. Her “Winter Wind” (No. 11) was surprisingly gentle. Overall, her playing was cheerful, pretty, polite and polished.

[Read more…]

Cleveland International Piano Competition: Round 2, Session 5

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By Mike Telin

Cleveland, OH — August 1, 2011

Steinway Piano model d

Five pianists played in the penultimate session of the second round on Monday afternoon.

Marina Baranova (30, Ukraine/Germany) gave sensitive and stylish readings of Scarlatti’s Sonatas in C Major (K.159) and f minor (k.466). Her discrete use of pedal and clear articulations, combined with some nice ornamentation, made for pleasurable listening. Continuing with two works of Schumann, the ABEGG Variations, Op. 1 and Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26 Ms. Baranova once again showed her technical command of the instrument, and made easy  and clean work of the numerous rapid scale passages in both pieces. In general she approached the ABEGG Variations from an introspective point of view,  creating some beautiful phrasing and lovely articulations. These fine qualities also featured in her performance of  Faschingsschwank aus Wien, along with grand fortissimos. [Read more…]

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