Russian evening


Alexander Romanovsky


The finals of the piano competition have started! Each of the five finalists have to perform with orchestra twice: Tchaikovsky nr.1 (or 2) plus another concerto of their own choice. Nobody chooses Tchaikovsky's second piano concerto, and Rachmaninov is by far the most popular for the other concerto. Apart from five times Tchaikovsky, we will be hearing three times Rach3, complemented by Chopin nr. 1 and Brahms nr. 1 (which will conclude the piano finals).

The first evening became a "Russian" evening, not only because of the composers, but also because of the orchestra, and then I mean this as a fine compliment: the Russian national orchestra conducted by Alexander Dimitriev produced a great sound, warm timbre, though sometimes a bit too enthusiastic. Well, I guess overwhelming is the right word. In any case, I enjoyed it. To hear Russian music performed by this orchestra is really something special.

But what about the soloists? Alexander Romanovsky was the first to play Tchaikovsky. Romanovsky is more than a skillful pianist. He is a great virtuoso and capable of producing a big sound. Maybe he thought this was necessary, in order to team up with the orchestra. But I also found that he speeded up too much, especially in the cadenza of the first movement, so that the details got lost, at least where I was sitting. (It should be noted that the balance of sound is experienced differently, depending on where you are seated in the Great Hall.)

Next was Seongjin Cho, age 17, almost 10 years younger than Romanovsky. Cho has participated in two other international piano competitions, winning the first prize on both occasions: the Moscow International Chopin Competition for Young Pianists (2008) and Hamamatsu (2009). Cho played Rach3, and immediately started by over-accentuating each time the first note in the opening phrases. One can be envious of his incredible technique, but I missed structure in his performance. The orchestra carried the beautiful music, playing long lines, while Seongjin was a bit too hasty, sometimes changing dynamics quite abruptly.

The evening was concluded with a master performance by Daniil Trifonov. His Tchaikovsky was also fast, but comfortable and consistent, and he paid attention to beautiful sound. The audience seemed to agree that he was the winner of this evening. (Actually, he just arrived from Tel Aviv, where he won the Rubinstein Competition!)

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