Pianist Vincent Ong made his Vancouver and Canadian debut this past Sunday with a recital that left no doubt that this is a major talent in the making.
Vincent’s recital began, a little bit unusually, with the entire set of Chopin’s Preludes, Op. 28, a work that typically ends a recital. The young artist sat down at the piano bench and plunged right into the tricky first piece in C Major. From beginning to end, I have the impression that his art has deepened in the months since his performances in Warsaw last October. From first note to last, Ong has an uncanny way of drawing the listeners into his sound world, of inviting, rather than demanding, us to share in his musical discovery.
Unlike so many young pianists who set out to impress, or to wow us with their superior virtuosity or musical profundity. That said, let’s make it clear that the virtuosity, the fireworks are there, in spades, when the music calls for them. One could immediately think of the preludes in F-sharp minor (No. 8), in G-sharp minor, (No. 12), in B-flat minor (No. 16), and the one in D minor (No. 24). The more lyrical ones, for instance, in F-sharp Major (No. 13), were brimming with lyricism, with the chords in the right hand floating above the flowing left-hand accompaniment. Still others, like the Prelude in G Major (No. 3), the charming Prelude in A Major (No. 7), and the Prelude in C-sharp minor (No. 10), were filled with flights of fantasy.
The works of Felix Mendelssohn do not show up in recital programmes very often today. The many beautifulLieder ohne Worte, much maligned by countless piano students, certainly deserve to be heard in concert halls. We have Vincent to thank for programming the lesser-known Op. 102 set. Ong does not make these lovely miniatures more than what they set out to be, but presented them with utmost naturalness, directness and musicality. The one in C Major (No. 3) was played with the most incredible lightness and agility, a reminder of the wondrous Scherzo from the composer’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the final piece, also in C Major (No 6), was filled with a pensiveness, stillness, and a feeling of repose.
In Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 8 in B-flat Major, Op. 84, we witnessed the same beautiful qualities that defined the entire recital. Right from the outset of the first movement, Ong drew us into the labyrinth of sound of the wide-ranging first theme. In the slow movement, he played the minuet with a sense of stillness, but without sacrificing the forward motion of the music. And in the blistering final movement, filled with contrasting moods, from the cheerful to the diabolical, Vincent Ong was in complete command of every element the music calls for.
The single encore Vincent Ong granted to his cheering audience – Robert Schumann’s Arabeske, Op. 18 – was given a performance that reminded me of Horowitz – the flowing legato, the directness of the emotional impact, and an awestruck innocence, made the experience an extremely moving one. What a beautiful way this w as to end this highly successful debut.
How wonderful and impressive it is to discover this young artist who already displays such maturity and understanding of the wide range of music he played. Even during the Chopin Competition last October, there were countless pianists who played note-perfectly, but only a handful who really moved us with their music making. I can safely say that Vincent Ong belongs at the top of that very small latter group, artists for whom the keys of the piano were not an end, but merely the means of expressing their art.
We eagerly await the forthcoming chapters in this young artist’s musical journey.
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