Even with the proliferation of music competition all over the world, the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw remains at the pinnacle in terms of the extremely high level of playing and its track record of being a career launchpad for some of today’s most legendary artists. That said, any artist is only as good as his or her last performance, and any artist would, every time he or she steps on stage, continues to have to prove him or herself. The greater the fame, the more the pressure for an artist to continue to develop and to play “well”.
Judging from Bruce Liu’s performance in Vancouver’s Orpheum Theatre yesterday, he has developed into a more mature and insightful artist since his sensational win in Warsaw two years ago, and the performance was, by every standard, very well played indeed.
In Haydn’s Sonata in B minor, Hob XVI:32, Liu successfully highlighted the elegance as well as the mock pathos that is so unique to the composer. His fleet, stunningly accurate fingerwork and rhythmic acuity infused the performance with a breathtaking lightness. In the central Tempo di Menuetto movement, he very successfully contrasted the courtly elegance of the outer sections with the gentle sturm und drang of the minore section. Liu took a daring tempo in the presto third movement, with its canonic opening, giving it the feeling, fun and excitement of a cops and robbers chase, and highlighting the composer’s added layer of humour by setting it in the “serious” key of B minor.
Liu played Chopin’s Sonata in B-flat minor, Op. 35, in his Vancouver debut recitals, and I was very curious to hear if and how his conception has changed in the intervening years. It was a stunning performance of great depth and feeling. I believe Liu feels the music even more than he did in his previous performance, both in Vancouver and in Warsaw during the competition. The sound is now deeper, and the drama and contrast more acute. I think, in time, he could bring out even more the violence and volcanic passion so inherent in the music. One hallmark in his playing – and this was true throughout the recital – is the utter clarity he brought to the playing no matter how thick or complex the texture. One thing that struck me two years ago, was the utter stillness he infused into the funeral march. This feeling of frightening stillness was even more apparent in yesterday’s performance. I was stunned by his sweeping and breathtaking playing of the “weird” (in the very best sense of the word) final movement, evoking so much Anton Rubinstein’s description of the “effect of wind over the graves” – a great achievement indeed for so young an artist.
As if to dispel the doom and gloom of the Chopin, Liu finished his first half with Kapustin’s Variations, Op. 41, with its influence of both jazz and popular music and, as Ruth Enns’ excellent programme notes indicate, “exploring styles ranging from swing to blues to bebop.” Liu did not pretend that the music was greater (or lesser) than what it was. Under his hand, it was a performance that was, for lack of a more sophisticated word, simply fun, and it was difficult to tell if the artist or the audience enjoyed the playing more.
The young artist’s playing of the works from Rameau’s Pieces de clavessin showcased the pianist with all his Gallic charm and elegance. Liu made no apologies for playing these works on the piano, and infused the music with a generous range of colours. It may not have been “authentic” or “historically aware”, but it was certainly beguiling and gorgeous playing. In Le poule, Liu so successfully evoked the clattering quality of the harpsichord, as well as the lively pecking character of the work.
It is the hallmark of a great work that every artist would bring something different to it. I am sure the presenters of the concert did not plan for two consecutive recitals to include Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7 in B-flat Major, Op. 83, arguably the composer’s towering masterpiece. Let me say that I would not want to be without the experience of either Yefim Bronfman or Bruce Liu’s performance. Yesterday, Liu brought to the work a lightness in touch and a panther-like spring, a quickness in the changes of mood, without lessening the impact of the weight of the music. In the first movement, he did not fall into the trap of playing the opening too fast, thereby maintaining the rhythmic integrity of the work. He engaged a great deal of una corda pedal throughout, giving the music a wider range of colours than Bronfman did. Liu’s playing of the third movement was exciting indeed, played with absolutely rhythmic acuity, and he had to his advantage a young man’s energy and enthusiasm for the work not yet “seasoned” by experience. From beginning to its cataclysmic final chords, it was a performance that took one’s breath away, and got the audience to stand and cheer.
And cheered they did, prompting Liu to grant three very different encores – a calm and reverential Bach/Siloti’s Prelude, a spirited Waltz in D-flat Major, Op. 64, No. 1 (the so-called “Minute Waltz”), and a performance of Erik Satie’s Gnossienne No. 1, with the artist’s hallmark beauty of tone and with some truly beautiful turn of phrases.
Looking at the hour-long lineup for autographs and photographs with the artist, Bruce Liu’s popularity has not lessened with time. While it is true that success at the Chopin Competition would almost guarantee many first opportunities for any young artist, but as conductor Zubin Mehta said, and I paraphrase, it is easy to get a first invitation, but to be invited back after that first performance is the real test. If Bruce Liu continues to develop as an artist and musician, there is every indication that he would be invited again and again in any of the musical capital of the world.
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