Yellow Fever
With the hotbed of musical talent coming out of China (at about the same rate the knock-off LVs roll off the production lines in Shenzhen), yet another prodigy wins an international competition and is catapulted into a career most can only dream of.
Having tied for the Gold Medal in the 13th Van Cliburn Competition, Zhang Haochen is no flash in the pan. Two years after his win, and all of 21 years of age, Zhang is heir apparent to the thrones currently occupied by Li Yundi and Lang Lang, both of whom local audiences cannot get enough of.
For his Singapore debut, Zhang accepted an invitation from the Singapore Chinese Orchestra to play the seminal cultural propoganda piece that is the Yellow River Concerto. With a piece as redolently rich with Chinoiserie, as is the Butterfly Lovers' Concerto, by default surely only a Chinese soloist would do the work justice.
Zhang is no empty vessel, with shores of reserves that seemed unlimited and boundless. Tossing off the challenging technical demands of the solo part with derring-do, he effortlessly traversed the score with a blistering reading. Be it strident call-to-arms or lyrical musing, he was in his element, and by the time the East is Red finale came round, he had the audience lapping up his every note.
Egged on by the conductor, Tsung Yeh, he ceded two encores, the first a brilliant tour de force of pyrotechnics veiled by the simplicity of. Bai Niao Chao Feng, a Chinese folk tune that ought to be better known. Then, a dreamy Debussy prelude followed to set the mood for the close of the evening.
The next day, Zhang held court with a solo recital programme with a choice selection of repertoire by Schumann, Beethoven, Liszt, Debussy and Prokofiev.
In Kinderszenen, his touch was all velvety smoothness, feather-light and ethereal. One barely managed to stay awake long enough for Traumerei before being overtaken by sleep, so soothing and calming was the music. As antidote and antithesis to Schumann's easy pieces, Zhang pulled out the stops with Beethoven's Appassionata Piano Sonata which provided the platform for unleashed and unrestrained virtuosity. The three Ts that make a great musician are taste, temperament and technique. Of the last, Zhang doled out in spades, and he has a long career ahead of him to develop on the other two.
The second half kicked off with a trailblazing, as it were, Ballade by Liszt, where not as narrative and dreamy as Chopin's, held a trove of treasures. Debussy's atmospheric Preludes were teased out with finesse and flair before the gauntlet was thrown down with Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No 7 which climaxed with a volley of notes in a overwhelming display of pyrotechnics.
Encores in the form of Chopin and a back-by-popular-demand Bai Niao Chua Fern were trotted out. Ladies and gentlemen, we have an heir and a spare.
Posted via LjBeetle
Having tied for the Gold Medal in the 13th Van Cliburn Competition, Zhang Haochen is no flash in the pan. Two years after his win, and all of 21 years of age, Zhang is heir apparent to the thrones currently occupied by Li Yundi and Lang Lang, both of whom local audiences cannot get enough of.
For his Singapore debut, Zhang accepted an invitation from the Singapore Chinese Orchestra to play the seminal cultural propoganda piece that is the Yellow River Concerto. With a piece as redolently rich with Chinoiserie, as is the Butterfly Lovers' Concerto, by default surely only a Chinese soloist would do the work justice.
Zhang is no empty vessel, with shores of reserves that seemed unlimited and boundless. Tossing off the challenging technical demands of the solo part with derring-do, he effortlessly traversed the score with a blistering reading. Be it strident call-to-arms or lyrical musing, he was in his element, and by the time the East is Red finale came round, he had the audience lapping up his every note.
Egged on by the conductor, Tsung Yeh, he ceded two encores, the first a brilliant tour de force of pyrotechnics veiled by the simplicity of. Bai Niao Chao Feng, a Chinese folk tune that ought to be better known. Then, a dreamy Debussy prelude followed to set the mood for the close of the evening.
The next day, Zhang held court with a solo recital programme with a choice selection of repertoire by Schumann, Beethoven, Liszt, Debussy and Prokofiev.
In Kinderszenen, his touch was all velvety smoothness, feather-light and ethereal. One barely managed to stay awake long enough for Traumerei before being overtaken by sleep, so soothing and calming was the music. As antidote and antithesis to Schumann's easy pieces, Zhang pulled out the stops with Beethoven's Appassionata Piano Sonata which provided the platform for unleashed and unrestrained virtuosity. The three Ts that make a great musician are taste, temperament and technique. Of the last, Zhang doled out in spades, and he has a long career ahead of him to develop on the other two.
The second half kicked off with a trailblazing, as it were, Ballade by Liszt, where not as narrative and dreamy as Chopin's, held a trove of treasures. Debussy's atmospheric Preludes were teased out with finesse and flair before the gauntlet was thrown down with Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No 7 which climaxed with a volley of notes in a overwhelming display of pyrotechnics.
Encores in the form of Chopin and a back-by-popular-demand Bai Niao Chua Fern were trotted out. Ladies and gentlemen, we have an heir and a spare.
Posted via LjBeetle