Wednesday was one of those truly special occasions where from the very opening of the Schnittke Improvisation & Fugue you knew could settle into your seat for an afternoon of good music making. Everybody today came through with unique personalities.
Esther Park (USA) delivered a rousing performance of the Schnittke, though she also demonstrated her delicate side in a really beautiful performance of the slow movement of Beethoven’s Sonata op. 111.
Tuesday night’s draw, though determined by lottery, defied randomness and produced an interesting lineup of pianists beginning with one of the two oldest contestants, Dmitri Levkovich (30, Canada), then proceeding down the age ladder (27, 26, 20) to one of the youngest, Chun Wang (19, China). These five are people to keep an eye on during the second round, and each for different reasons.
Levkovich was a semi-finalist in Cleveland’s 2007 contest and he proceeded to completely own his 30 minute slot last night. You could tell that he was both a veteran and a candidate who was dedicated to winning this time around. Every moment of his Scarlatti (Sonatas K. 45 & 17), Beethoven (Sonata in d, op. 31, no. 2) and Chopin (‘Black Key’ Etude in G-flat, op. 10, no. 5) was planned and controlled to the last detail. Impressive.
Wednesday, July 29
1:00 pm — Esther Park (USA): Schnittke’s Improvisation & Fugue, Beethoven’s Sonata in c, op. 111. 1:35 pm — Evgeny Brakhman (Russia): J.S. Bach’s Prelude & Fugue in f, WTC 1:12, Mozart’s Sonata in C, K. 330 & Chopin’s Etude in C, op. 10, no. 1. 2:10 pm — Pallavi Mahidhara (USA/India): J.S. Bach’s Prelude & Fugue in C, WTC II, 1, Chopin’s Etude in f, op. 10, no. 9 & Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, op. 12. 3:00 pm — Zhang Zuo (China): Haydn’s Sonata in G, Hob. XVI:40, Chopin’s Etude in F, op. 10, no. 8 & Ginastera’s Sonata No. 1, op. 22. 3:35 pm — Martina Filjak (Croatia): Haydn’s Sonata in c, Hob. XVI:20, Berio’s Wasserklavier, Feuerklavier & Luftklavier (Six Encores) & Chopin’s Etude in b, op. 25, no. 10. 4:10 pm — Yunquing Zhou (China): J.S. Bach’s Prelude & Fugue in B, WTC II:23, Chopin’s Etude in C, op. 10, no. 1 & Brahms’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini.
7:00 pm — Anzhelika Fuks (Ukraine): Sosjko’s Sofija Kijevsjka, J. S. Bach’s Prelude & Fugue in b-flat, WTC II:22 & Mozart’s Sonata in E-flat, K. 282. 7:35 pm — Gerhard Vielhaber (Germany): Beethoven’s Sonata in D, op. 10, no. 3 & Chopin’s Etude in b, op. 25, no. 10. 8:10 pm — Michael Brown (USA): J.S. Bach’s Prelude & Fugue in C, WTC II:1, Beethoven’s Sonata in F, op. 54, Perle’s Six Celebratory Inventions (excerpts) & Chopin’s Etude in c, op. 10, no. 12 (‘Revolutionary’). 8:55 pm — Kwan Yi (USA): Beethoven’s Sonata in C, op. 2, no. 3 & Chopin’s Etude in a, op. 10, no. 2. 9:30 pm — Kuok-Wai Lio (China): J.S. Bach’s Prelude & Fugue in b, WTC II:24, Haydn’s Sonata in E-flat, Hob. XVI:49 & Chopin’s Etude in F, op. 10, no. 8.
This analogy is going to break down soon, but I’m discovering that the opening rounds of a tennis tournament and a piano competition have a lot in common. You get to witness the strengths and weaknesses of new players (he’s going to have trouble with his serve; she’s having problems balancing the voicing on this piano…) and you have the opportunity to see how grace operates under fire (who’s going to clutch and doublefault at match point; who’s going to lose control of the tempo in the final presto). And you get to hang out in a temporary village of enthusiasts that also resembles a medieval jousting tournament. As the crowd assembled at the Play House this afternoon, we saw a lot of people we knew we’d find here, and it was fun to catch up on inside talk.
When thirteen is your lucky number. Evgeny Brakhman (Russia) gets to put off his first round performance until Wednesday afternoon. Behind (L-R) WCLV's president, Robert Conrad, CIPC board president Rand Curtiss, jury chairman Peter Frankl and CIM president Joel Smirnoff. Photo: Sam Hubish
CIPC executive director Karen Knowlton looked relieved a few minutes after five o’clock on Monday when thirty-two of the thirty-three contestants were neatly arranged on chairs on the Mixon Hall stage at CIM, ready to draw for their slots in the competition schedule.
Don’t expect instant results from the eight judges on the jury of the Cleveland International Piano Competition after each pianist finishes his or her set. Analogies to sports competitions like figure skating begin to break down a bit here. You won’t know who’s going to advance to the eight spots in the semifinals until the first two rounds are completed on August 2nd, but in the meanwhile, lots of notes are going to be taken on all of the notes that are going to be played.
Whether you plan to follow the proceedings of the Cleveland International Piano Competition as an attendee, as a listener over WCLV, through CIPC’s webcast or via written reports in the Plain Dealer or on ClevelandClassical.com’s blog, be advised: a tsunami of piano music is about to wash over you in the next two weeks.
Today we’ll take a look at the scheduled repertory for the first two rounds, when all 34 contestants will be performing. The playlist includes an impressive total of 145 works by 37 composers. [Read more…]
Welcome to ClevelandClassical.com’s Blog! We’re pleased to announce that we will report daily from the 2009 Cleveland International Piano Competition (CIPC). [Read more…]