Sung Ho Yoo kicked off the quarterfinal round with Schoenberg’s Suite for Piano, op. 25. Atonal music is often denigrated as inexpressive and mechanical, but Schoenberg’s aim in composition was in fact the opposite; his style grew out of the German expressionist movement, which aimed at the most intense possible expression of human emotions. Although not Schoenberg’s first atonal work, this suite is the first composition in which he uses his 12-tone system in every movement. In this system, the 12 chromatic notes are ordered in a row, and the piece uses them in specific orderings of this row throughout instead of traditional tonal relationships. Yoo’s performance was engaging and musical, and he clearly enjoyed the striking dissonances and expressive phrasing built into the piece. His second piece was Schubert’s delightful “little” A major sonata, D. 664. This was the first time we’ve heard Schubert in this competition, and I very much enjoyed Yoo’s playing. His phrasing was sensitive and expressive, and the gentleness of this sonata contrasted very nicely with the angular Schoenberg. As a fun fact, the finale of this sonata is unusual among sonata forms in that the recapitulation happens in the subdominant (D major) rather than A major—Mozart’s “easy” C major sonata also shares this trait, with the first theme reappearing in F major.
Yoo’s performance of Barber’s Piano Sonata was the highlight of his program for me. In the first movement, he did a great job of making each theme and phrase distinct, clearly deciphering the music for the audience to understand. When one theme interrupted another, he really made us feel that interruption—every new or returning motive was given its due. The finale of this piece is always impressive to listen to—a rapid fugue taking advantage of all the piano and pianist can do (and one of the few places in the repertoire where a working sostenuto pedal is required). His final piece was the first time the audience had heard Olga Kern’s new composition (although it is my sixth time hearing it, because I listened to the afternoon session first). Yoo’s version was a success, and I think his was among my favorite of the slow movement interpretations.
Daria Podorozhnova began her morning performance with Haydn’s Sonata in E major, Hob. XVI:31. (For those of you wondering what “Hob. XVI:31” means, Hob. stands for Hoboken, the last name of the guy who cataloged all of Haydn’s music. His system grouped Haydn’s pieces into genre categories, and keyboard sonatas happened to get the 16th category—hence XVI. This sonata is the 31st one in his list, so it gets XVI:31. Mozart’s cataloger just used numbers, but with Haydn we are stuck with roman numerals plus numbers!) Podorozhnova’s Haydn was focused and clear, and full of character. Just like in the first round, I found her playing especially compelling—very musical. I know I just said I liked Sung Ho Yoo’s slow movement of Olga Kern’s piece the best, but now I’m not sure—this one gave it a run for its money.
Her next piece was a less often played sonata by Brahms—his second one, in f-sharp minor (op. 2). Brahms’s f minor sonata is played far more often, so I was excited to listen to this one that I have not often heard. Like a lot of early Brahms, it is remarkable music but with textures that could be described as thick and blocky. It takes a good pianist to make this type of music sound good on our modern piano, and Podorozhnova was certainly up to the task. Her performance not only sounded good, but it was also vivid and imaginative. Her last piece, Agosti’s transcription of Stravinsky’s Firebird, further showed off her virtuosity and fluency at the keyboard. Magnificent!
Jonathan Mak started with Olga Kern’s composition, and his interpretation of the first movement was a shade more extroverted than the previous two contestants. It had beautiful, sensitive playing in it though, and I enjoyed it along with the second, more rhythmic movement. Mak chose to play this piece from a score, and I always find that it can be difficult to shift gears between playing from a score and playing from memory in a single performance. His second piece was Robert Schumann’s Sonata no. 2 in g minor, which I always enjoy listening to. His playing was full of different characters: dazzling fireworks in the first and last movement, an introverted and questioning speculative second movement, and an impish scherzo.
Mak next chose to play an etude (no. 8 in b-flat minor “Erlkönig, After Goethe”) by Marc-André Hamelin, a renowned and prolific pianist known for playing anything and everything very well. This and the following Prokofiev were the highlight of Mak’s program for me, and I think the etude showed off his virtuosity as well as his command of the instrument. I hadn’t heard the piece before, and very much enjoyed listening. His final piece was Prokofiev’s Sonata no. 8 in B-flat major, a huge work that is my favorite among Prokofiev’s late piano music. It is a very effective closer, and Mak played it exceptionally well, highlighting the signature off-kilter Prokofiev sound while also infusing it with his own personality and energy.
Leo de Maria was Wednesday morning’s final performer, offering a program of Mozart, Granados, Liszt, Kern, and Ravel. Mozart’s Sonata in E-flat major K. 282 is one of his earlier piano sonatas, and it is full of charm and lyricism. This piece is unusual in that it starts with a slow movement—perhaps de Maria wanted to start with this piece to ease himself back into playing on this piano, or maybe he wanted to show the jury right away his skill as a sensitive player and Mozart interpreter (or both). His second piece was Granados’ “El Amor y la Muerte” (Balada) from the suite Goyescas. This ballad of love and death and the other pieces in Goyescas were inspired by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya, and this movement is one of the two that can be directly matched to a work by Goya (in this case, a print with the same name). De Maria’s interpretation was poetic and grand, and the rich extended harmonies in this Spanish music came across beautifully, with just the right amount of rubato.
The second half of his program began with Liszt’s “Dante” sonata, a single-movement sonata drawn from the second volume (Italy) of his Années de pèlerinage (years of pilgrimage). The striking opening tritones in octaves are clear allusions to the devil or hell, as Liszt was inspired by Victor Hugo’s poem “Après une lecture de Dante” from 1836. Liszt was not only a composer of highly virtuosic piano music, but also a deeply spiritual man who frequently drew connections between literature and music. De Maria’s performance captured both sides of Liszt: the virtuosic and profound. His next piece, Olga Kern’s composition, was well played, and his last piece (Ravel’s La Valse) was a showstopper. An orchestral piece originally, Ravel transcribed the piece for two pianos and also for one piano. As one can imagine, a piece that exists in both an orchestral and a two piano version has quite a few notes!