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QUEEN ELISABETH PIANO COMPETITION 2003

CD 1: PROKOFIEV Concerto nr. 2 in G minor op. 16
Severin von ECKARDSTEIN
RACHMANINOV Concerto nr. 3 in D minor op. 30
Wen-Yu SHEN
Orchestre National de Belgique/Gilbert Varga

CD 2: Ian MUNRO (1963) / Dreams
Severin von ECKARDSTEIN Orchestre National de Belgique/Gilbert Varga
BEETHOVEN Sonata nr. 27 in E minor op. 90
Jeroen D’HOE (1968) / Toccata-Scherzo
Severin von ECKARDSTEIN
STRAVINSKY Petrouchka Suite
Wen-Yu SHEN
BEETHOVEN Sonata nr. 31 in A flat major op. 110
Roberto GIORDANO
BALAKIREV Islamey
Jong-Gyung PARK

CD 3
MOZART Concerto nr. 20 in D minor KV 466
Jin JU
Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie
Geroges Octors, direction
SCHUBERT Sonata in A major D 664
Kazumasa MATSUMOTO
BEETHOVEN Sonata nr. 22 in F major op. 54
MinSoo SOHN
HAYDN Sonata in C major Hob XVI:50
Amir TEBENIKHIN

Cypres CYP9616

This live recording of the young gladiators in combat at the Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition 2003 demonstrates the good health of piano teaching and learning at the highest level. There are some fine performances to be enjoyed - no editing or patching! Biographical details and track lists of the three CDs are on line at the Cypres website.

I was vastly impressed by the German winner's Prokofiev (far the hardest and most challenging of his piano concertos) and it was interesting that one of the set pieces was by Ian Munro, well remembered in UK as 2nd prizewinner of the Leeds International Piano Competition (1978). The booklet characterises the 2003 winner fairly thus:

"
- - Severin von Eckardstein. Maturity, stylistic plenitude and fullness of sound were combined in him with an indefinable air of culture, exempt of arrogance and show, resulting in performances that were anything but adventitious. We shall be listening again and again to what this young man was able to do under the very difficult conditions, as regards both length and intensity, of the toughest of international competitions. We can but be convinced that the discovery of a true Beethovenian, able to master both a contemporary score and to give such a performance of the Prokofiev Second, is unquestionably to be assigned to the Competition’s credit."

A noteworthy feature of this welcome release is the quality of the orchestral accompaniments and their well balanced recording, without the piano unduly prominent as feared and which so often destroys concerto recordings on CD.

Roberto Giordano's Op 110 is impressive and Jin Ju delighted me in the Mozart D minor concerto but, on the rest of the third disc, I was less captivated by the Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert playing and seriously wondered how long young pianists and piano competitions would be limited by reliance on the ubiquitous Steinway, which dominates the concert and recording world and is inclined to stultify imagination of sonic potentialities in classical and early 19 C music?

Peter Grahame Woolf