Continuing our following of four contestants in the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Mike Telin of ClevelandClassical.com speaks with Russian pianist Konstantin Shamray, 28, following his second round performance on August 4, 2013.
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by Daniel Hathaway
Time for second impressions! Ryoyu Huang stepped up first in the second round with Haydn, Britten and the last half of Chopin’s Op. 28 Preludes (he had played the first dozen in the opening round). Huang’s breezy excursion through Haydn’s E Major sonata (Hob. XVI:31) didn’t leave him much room to sniff out details. He played with an agreeably hefty tone, and many of his lines had a good sense of direction. Britten composed his gloomy Notturno for just such a competition as this one (Leeds), giving pianists a catalogue of nuanced effects to tackle, and Huang did a fine job with that. The Chopin set was at times expressive, and at others could have benefited from a bit more emotion (No. 15).
Two Scarlatti sonatas in f minor (K. 387 and K. 519) allowed Pavel Yeletskly to vary his articulation in striking ways and make them into true piano pieces rather than just transcriptions from the harpsichord. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Five pianists appeared on the Gartner Auditorium stage on Friday evening to complete the initial parade of twenty-eight competitors and bring the first round of the Cleveland International Piano Competition to a very interesting conclusion.
26-year-old Wenbin Jin from China brought the two sides of Robert Schumann’s personality — the passionate represented by Florestan, the poetic by Eusebius — to life with an evocative performance of the Fantasiestücke, op. 12. His admirable playing (both poetic and passionate) was mitigated by his tendency to play repeated material in exactly the same way — lingering on the first notes of phrases, pausing before the last, applying rubato in identical spots — so that his expressiveness sounded formulaic rather than spontaneous. His grand conception of Ende vom Lied was appropriately valedictory. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
The Cleveland International Piano Competition got off to a strong start on Wednesday afternoon in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art. If the other twenty-three contestants can match the quality of the first five who played, this should prove to be a very interesting eleven days.
24-year old Ruoyu Huang from China was the lucky recipient of spot number one in the draw. He led off with nuanced performances of two Scarlatti sonatas (K. 45 and K. 17) that showed off his fleet passage work and clarity of touch. A Chopin set (the first 12 Preludes, Etude in e, op. 25/5 and Ballade in G, op. 23/1) had both fine and uneven moments. Some of the preludes fluctuated in tempo beyond an expressive rubato, and Chopin’s interesting harmonic progressions sometimes went unheralded. The Ballade, though exciting, became episodic and nearly Lisztian in scale. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
The 2013 Cleveland International Piano Competition officially kicks off on Tuesday, July 30 with a 6pm opening ceremony in Gartner Auditorium of the Cleveland Museum of Art. After the performance of a Mozart concerto by 2011 winner Alexander Schimpf and CityMusic Cleveland, piano fans will meet and greet this year’s 28 contestants in person for the first time.
CIPC has kindly arranged for ClevelandClassical to follow some of the contestants during the competition, and four pianists have graciously agreed to be interviewed by Mike Telin from time to time. Our initial conversations were conducted the last week in June and the first week in July via Skype video, when we got to know more about the personalities of four of these interesting and engaging musicians, who range in age from 18 to 30. Each spoke about how they began playing and talked about their personal interests and activities. Many thanks to the competition and the four contestants for making these conversations possible. [Read more…]