First Schubertiade Evening

What a treat this week will be, to have some of my favourite pieces of music performed within the space of four days! The Vancouver Recital Society’s inspired Schubertiade, featuring the composer’s late works of Franz Schubert, began last night.

And what a start it was! I was particularly anxious to hear pianist Kuok-Wai Lio, who gave a remarkable recital on the Playhouse stage a few seasons back. Mr. Lio did not disappoint last evening. In fact, I believe that he has matured even more artistically since we last heard him. He began the concert with one of Schubert’s most dramatic, most Beethovenian work, the Sonata in C minor, D. 958. There were many magical moments in Lio’s playing of the work, but more than many artists, he really highlighted for me the kinship of Schubert’s instrumental works to his lieder. The spiritual and emotional world of this sonata is really that of Winterreise.

The artist navigated us through the many harmonic changes of the 1^st movement with great mastery, making them moving musical moments, as in the transition into E-flat major beginning at m. 27. In those mere two-dozen measures, the composer took us from the desperation of the opening chords to hope, and Lio really highlighted for me that magical transformation. The many pregnant pauses, especially in the first and second movements, were charged with meaning. Also remarkable was how he played the development of the opening movement, bringing out the absolute bleakness of the chromatic line in the left hand, and the restless broken chords in the right. The writing in this section is very much like the piano writing in Erstarrung, the fourth song from Winterreise.

In the second movement, marked Adagio, Schubert, through Lio, brought us into the emotional world of Das Wirtshaus, again from Winterreise. And again, the pianist acted as knowledgeable guide, taking us through the dramatic middle section before bringing us home (briefly) to the wistful opening theme. It was a remarkable journey. In the 4^th movement, I was reminded of Schubert’s early masterpiece Erlkönig. As in that earlier song, this movement is once again a wild ride through the forest. In the sudden appearance of the theme in C major at m. 67, Lio’s playing reminded me of the voice of the Erl-king, luring the child into his kingdom of death with his suave words.

Almost as a bit of an emotional relief, the next piece on the programme was the Fantasie in C major for violin and piano, D. 934, the composer’s attempt at virtuoso writing for the two instruments. If this work does not have the same emotional impact as the sonata, it is still a remarkable composition. The incredible collaboration between Lio and violinist Benjamin Beilman was stunning The two artists were together in every nuance of the piece. Although the violin part is slightly flashier, the piano part is much, much more than mere accompaniment. Both Lio and Beilman were at one from beginning to end, and it was a truly satisfying chamber music performance.

I had been really looking forward to the performance of Schubert’s String Quintet in C major, D. 956. The performers in this concert were the Doric String Quartet and cellist Gary Hoffman. I believe that in this incredible work, Schubert had already “crossed over” to the other side, and was staring at death in the eye. The performers last night were certainly in sync with the composer from the first note to last. The pacing in all four movements was impeccable. In the first and second movements, the hushed quality of the true pianissimos as well as the many moments of portentous silence were breathtaking. In the second movement - the emotional core of the entire work, the performers created the feeling that the music is only hanging by a thread, and found it difficult even to breathe, lest I break the magic of the moment. The explosion of sound in the third movement, and the almost wild dance of the fourth, although no less incredible musically, serve almost as a catharsis after the almost unbearable emotional intensity of the first two movements.

At a time when the recital season is winding to a close, we are so fortunate to have this mini-chamber music festival. I am certainly looking forward to the continuation of the musical journey in the next two concerts.

Patrick May

April 13, 2o16

A Young Old Soul

In the very crowded field of outstanding young pianists today (and getting more crowded every year), there have been many recent performances that succeed in impressing us with his or her pianistic prowess. Far more rare is a young artist who moves us, not with technical wizardry (which he has plenty of), but with depth, with artistry and musicality.

Such an event took place in Vancouver yesterday, with the Canadian debut of Kuok-Wai Lio, under the auspices of the Vancouver Recital Society. Mr. Lio played an artistically and technically demanding programme of Janáček, Schubert, and Schumann. I do not recall being so moved by a young pianist’s playing since the first time I heard Ingrid Fliter many years back.

Mr. Lio began his recital daringly, with a performance of Leoš Janáček’s four-movement piano cycle, In the Mists. Not being intimately acquainted with the piece, I can only guess that the composer named his work a “piano cycle” instead of “sonata” so that he didn’t feel bound by any constraints of musical structure. Indeed the piece sounded very free-flowing in its ideas, very colourful and beautiful, and highly imaginative. I did detect the influence of other composers, most notably in his use of harmony, which somehow reminded me of the harmonies Chopin used in some of his later Mazurkas.

Kuok-Wai Lio appears to be a quiet and unassuming young man, but from the first notes, Lio mesmerized me with his playing. There is a luminous quality to the sound he makes on the piano. Within minutes, I realized that I was in the presence of a young master. The playing commanded our complete attention without clamoring for it. Lio, I believe, is very much “his own man” in his musical ideas.

Franz Schubert’s Four Impromptus, D. 935, made up the final work of the first half. Unlike many of today’s young keyboard titans, Lio took the time for the music to develop. At the same time, the music never dragged, but flowed beautifully and logically. The many transitions, in mood and in tempo, within each of the four pieces were masterfully handled. Lio’s interpretation of these very familiar pieces did not remind me of anyone else’s playing. His ideas were completely original, but never idiosyncratic, and they made complete musical sense.  I believe Lio is one of those rare artists who draw our attention to the music, and not to him or his personality.

Lio’s playing of Robert Schumann’s elusive Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6, once again reinforced my impression that we were in the presence of an extremely rare talent. One of Schumann’s lesser played works, the piece has an inner beauty that makes it very difficult to bring across. I believe it was Busoni who said that a musician must, during a performance, lose and find himself at the same time. From beginning to end, Lio was completely absorbed in the shifting moods of Schumann’s sound world, a man completely lost within the music, but at the same time seeing clearly the way before him. His playing of the work’s two final sections (Wie aus der Ferne; Nicht schnell) was meltingly and heartbreakingly beautiful. 

After repeated curtain calls from an enthusiastic audience, Lio rewarded us with the Aria from Bach’s Goldberg Variations, giving us a tantalizing taste of what a performance of the complete work would be like.

No amount of designer clothing or brand name runners can give young artists depth and maturity. This young pianist already possesses such qualities in abundance. In one article I read about Lio, conductor Donato Cabera, who worked with him, called him “an old soul”.

Hearing his performance yesterday, that is exactly how I would describe Kuok-Wai Lio.