Tuesday afternoon with Levkovich and Brakhman was a guy’s session featuring two very fine, comparable performances. Tuesday evening was the women’s turn, but what a contrast between the equally excellent pianists Pallavi Mahidhara (USA/India) and Martina Filjak (Croatia).
And then there were eight: Semi-Final Round, Session 1
The field is getting smaller, the audiences are getting larger and the performances are getting longer this week at the Bolton Theatre as we move into the four semi-final rounds.
In this leg of the competition, the requirements become simpler, with only two imperatives. Competitors must include a work or group of works by a French impressionist composer and a Romantic composer, then they can choose to play any other work of their choice. The French requirement is a vestige of CIPC’s ancestor, the Casadesus Competition, and it brings an entirely new challenge into play.
As the original order of the draw is being preserved in the Semi-finals, Dmitri Levkovich of Canada and Evgeny Brakhman of Russia were the featured acts on Tuesday afternoon. Each player crammed as much music as possible into his 55-60 minute allotment.
Opinions: Open Thread
The pause between rounds today gives us a moment to reflect on a week of extraordinary talent, and speculate on the excitement to come.
After the 8 semi-finalists were announced last night, ClevelandClassical.com was surprised to be mostly in accord with the jury’s choices. We’re taken with Dmitri Levkovich, fresh off the heels of winning the Iturbi (Los Angeles), he’s pumped for a second win this year in a major competition. Four of the eight semi-finalists came from group 3–no surprise there. This group was a happy coincidence of the draw for listeners, a real treat! We’ll admit surprise that Japanese contestant Kyoko Soejima did not advance, and that Korean William Youn did, though we’re eager to hear him perform (and prove us wrong) in the next round.
Share your thoughts: Surprises? Disappointments? Who’s moved you so far? What will you be listening for this week? Do tell, let’s use this thread for discussion.
UPDATED Here’s a little more food for thought… Daniel Hathaway’s round up of CIPC Rounds 1 & 2 on ClevelandClassical.com.
Program for August 4-5: Semi-Final Round
Tuesday, August 4
Session 1
1:00 pm – Dmitri Levkovich
Haydn: Sonata in C Major, Hob. XVI: 48
Debussy: Pour le piano
Rachmaninoff: Preludes, Op. 32, (Nos. 4, 13, 5); Sonata No. 2 in B flat Minor, Op. 36 (with elements from 1913 and 1931)
Intermission
2:15 pm – Evgeny Brakhman
Messiaen: Cloches d’angoisse et larmes d’adieu (Préludes, No. 6) lle de feu I (Quatre études de rythme, No. 1)
Debussy: Pour les arpèges composés (Douze études, Book II: 11) L’Isle joyeuse
Rachmaninoff: Études-tableaux, Op. 33, Nos. 8, 2, 3; Op. 39, Nos. 1, 2, 9; Sonata No. 2 in B flat Minor, Op. 36 (1931)
32 up and 32 down: Round 2, Session 6
The first and last of the final five competitors to be heard for the second time on Sunday evening thoughtfully chose very interesting repertory, a boon for ears that were about to get a bit weary.
Marina Radiushina (USA) began with a bravura performance of Leighton’s impassioned ‘Fantasia Contrappuntistica (Homage to Bach)’, went on to a beautiful and shamelessly pianistic reading of Handel’s Chaconne in G and ended with a finely paced version of Schumann’s austere Variations on a Theme of Clara Wieck. Elegant, graceful and demonstrating an excellent sense of style and technique, Radiushina made a fine impression.
Announcement of Semi-Finalists
Tonight, following the conclusion of Round 2, the CIPC jury will vote, selecting 8 contestants to advance to the semi-final round. The announcement is expected around 11:00 pm Eastern. Check back later for the decision and the semi-final round schedule.
UPDATED The Semi-Finalists in performance order:
Dmitri Levkovich
Evgeny Brakhman
Pallavi Mahidhara
Martina Filjak
Yunqing Zhou
Kuok-Wai Lio
William Youn
Soo-Yeon Ham
Confirmations: Round 2, Session 5
Sangyoung Kim, Kristhyan Benitez, Martin Labazevitch, Anna Bulkina & Edward Neeman returned to the Bolton Theatre stage on Sunday afternoon for a second hearing. Although we can’t say that we learned anything radically new about these five highly competent pianists, many of our first impressions were confirmed by hearing them in fresh repertory.
Sangyoung Kim (Korea) impressed us on Thursday afternoon with her Dutilleaux Sonata. She presented only two works on Sunday: a Prelude & Fugue from Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier (f-sharp, Book II) and Schumann’s Carnaval. Her Bach was nicely shaped, building to its harmonic climax with a long crescendo and announcing harmonic arrivals. As in the Dutilleaux, Kim brought fine colors out of the Hamburg Steinway, taming its bright treble register and producing a performance of stylish beauty, reactive to quick changes of mood and bright with humor. She caught the grandeur of Schumann’s piano writing in a way that has eluded previous contestants and brought the first set of the afternoon to a highly agreeable conclusion. Never mind a few klinkers.
Second Takes: Round 2, Session 4
Our second date with Saturday evening’s quintet of pianists revealed some shortcomings we hadn’t noticed before, and one pianist quite happily presented a completely different personality from our first encounter on Wednesday evening.
Kwan Yi (USA) was all robotic energy three nights ago, plowing breathlessly through Beethoven and Chopin with admirable technique but not pausing to enjoy the sights along his musical journey. On Saturday, he revealed his gentler, more expressive side with a ruminative performance of Bach’s g minor Prelude and Fugue (WTC I) and a fine trek through Dutilleux’s ‘Le jeu des contraires’ in which he demonstrated varieties of touch and an ability to draw a big sound out of the Hamburg Steinway without succumbing to harshness. An impressively clear performance of Chopin (Ballade No. 3 in A-flat and Scherzo No. 3 in c-sharp) also showed that he’s able to be simultaneously dramatic and sensitive. Some of the quirky body language remains, but there was less of it (the Dutilleux ended with Yi frozen in a long pose facing the audience).
Program for August 2: Round 2, Sessions 5 & 6
Sunday, August 2
1:00 pm – Sangyoung Kim (Korea): Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in F sharp Minor, WTC II: 14, Schumann’s Carnaval, Op. 9. 1:40 pm – Kristhyan Benitez (Venezuela): Schumann’s Kreisleriana, Op. 16, Ruiz’s Merengue (1994). 2:20 pm – Martin Labazevitch (USA): Scarlatti’s Sonatas: K. 162 in E Major, K. 87 in B Minor, K. 125 in G Major, Chopin’s Nocturne in E flat Major, Op. 55, No. 2 Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 52. 3:15 pm – Anna Bulkina (Russia): Gubaydulina’s Chaconne, Beethoven’s Sonata in E flat Major, Op. 81a (Les Adieux), Chopin’s Etude in A minor, Op. 25, No. 11 (“Winter Wind”). 3:55 pm – Edward Neeman (USA/Australia): Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in F sharp Minor, WTC II: 14, Brahms’s Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 1.
7:00 pm – Marina Radiushina (USA): Leighton’s Fantasia Contrappuntistica (Homage to Bach), Op. 24, Handel’s Chaconne in G Major, HWV 435, Schumann’s Variations on a Theme of Clara Wieck from Sonata No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 14. 7:40 pm – Ju-Eun Lee (Korea): Scarlatti ‘s Sonatas: K. 119 in D Major, K. 96 in D Major, K. 394 in E Minor, Chopin’s Sonata No. 2 in B flat Minor, Op. 35. 8:20 pm – Alexander Osminin (Russia): Scarlatti’s Sonatas: K. 247 in C sharp Minor, K.118 in D, Karamanov’s Rondo in E Minor, Schumann’s Carnaval, Op. 9. 9:15 pm – William Youn (Korea): Scarlatti’s Sonatas: K. 87 in B Minor, K. 436 in D Major, Brahms’s Sonata No. 2 in F sharp Minor, Op. 2. 9:55 pm – Soo-Yeon Ham (Korea): Chopin’s 12 Etudes, Op. 25.
Noteworthy: Round 2 Session 3
As they did on Wednesday afternoon, the performers in group number 3 treated us to a special afternoon of music making.
Esther Park (USA) opened the session with a lovely set of Scarlatti sonatas K 531, K 322, and K 203, performing all three with grace, and poise. It was too bad that her performances of the Chopin Etude in C Op. 10 #3 and the Brahms Variations on a Theme of Paganini did not fare nearly as well. Ms. Parks possesses outstanding technique, however too many missed notes crept into the Chopin, and while the Brahms had many lovely moments, during some of the louder, faster variations she had a tendency to apply too much pedal, causing a blurring of the sound.
As in round one, Evgeny Brakhman (Russia) sounded and looked as though he wanted to do nothing more than play the piano. He was in total control in the Brahms Seven Fantasies Op 116, often building phrases over long periods, as well as bringing a full color palette to the performance. In Kopelmann’s ‘Everything is foreseen and free will is given’ we saw another side of him as a performer. During the first round, Mr. Brakhmann enthralled us with his magical playing of a Mozart sonata, but he is equally at home performing a
piece that emphasizes the percussive qualities of the piano.