Preliminary Recital 3
Photos by Ron Jenkins and Ralph Lauer
—Wayne Lee Gay
May 21, 2025: Aristo Sham, 29, of Hong Kong, threw volcanic energy into his opening rendition of Busoni's piano transcription of J. S. Bach's Chaconne in D minor, originally for solo violin. Beginning with an overtly assertive statement of the main theme, Sham's quick tempos and muscular tone proved generally thrilling, but occasionally overwhelmed the profundity of Bach's original. To his credit, Sham found more of the hidden jazz in Montero's "Rachtime" than any previous performer. In the day's third presentation of Ravel's triptych Gaspard de la nuit, Sham skillfully used the damper pedal to create some wonderful colors in the opening "Ondine" movement, and provided a hauntingly steady ostinato in the second movement's vision of a corpse hanging from a gibbet.
California-born, Russian-educated Angel Stanislav Wang, 22, won (and deserved) the most enthusiastic ovation of the day with a program opening with Beethoven's rarely performed Fantasia in G minor, Opus 77. Wang brought a sense of drama to this loosely organized set of variations, then produced the same level of exuberance in Montero's "Rachtime." Liszt's sonorous depiction of "The Bells of Geneva" brought more opportunity for Wang's special brand of intelligent virtuosity, and served as a prelude to the day's second performance of Liszt's Réminiscenses de Don Juan, a pianistic showpiece based on themes from Mozart's Don Giovanni, transformed into a hurricane of notes.
Russian Philipp Lynov, 26, opened with the day's second performance of J. S. Bach's Capriccio "On the Departure of a Beloved Brother," producing an appropriately modern level of energy without belying the work's origins in the baroque era. Lynov leaned toward the Rachmaninoff-like elements of Montero's "Rachtime," then beautifully advocated for American Samuel Barber's Sonata of 1949. After an almost Slavic-flavored rendition of the first of the work's four movements, Lynov brought a brilliant touch to the brief ensuing Allegro vivace, and masterfully handled the transition of the lullaby-like Adagio into a dark nightmare. He then deftly and convincingly flew through the contrapuntal complexities of the final fugue.
