Piano 1999
The undisputed
musical event of this late Spring in Belgium is the International Queen Elisabeth Competition. Founded almost fifty
years ago, this veritable institution has crowned such brilliant
pianists as Fleisher, Engel, Tipo, Ashkenazy, Browning, Berman,
Frager, Afanassiev, Lively, Egorov, El-Bacha, Volondat, Braley,
Groh, etc.
The Queen Elisabeth Competition is different from other competitions
in several ways: first, its jury is always formed of eminent
teachers and recognized virtuosos from all over the world. Secondly,
it is open to new music: the finalists have to perform a specially
composed concerto, written this year by the Finn Uljas
Voitto Pulkkis,
himself chosen by an international jury. Lastly, its prestige
and its popularity enable it to draw a vast audience to classical
music.
The laureates of the 1999 Competition have made this a great vintage! These three CDs enable one to (re)discover some very different pianistic personalities. Even if the winners' list is dominated by the Russian school represented by Vitaly Samoshko (First Prize) and Alexander Ghindin (Second Prize), who appear respectively in concertos by Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky, chamber music is not neglected: the refinement of Ning An (Third Prize) in Mozart and of Roland Kruger in Beethoven, the elegance of Roberto Cominati (Fifth Prize) in Schumann, or the imaginative playing of Vladimir Sverdlov (Sixth Prize) in Schubert. The Belgian National Orchestra, conducted by Marc Soustrot, also accompanied Shai Wosner (Fourth Prize) who gave a splendid rendition of the Pulkkis score.
Here are almost
four hours of music recorded live during the final and semi-finals
of the competition for making acquaintance with these young talents
at the start of what we trust will be brilliant careers. Rare
indeed are the laureates of the Queen Elisabeth Competition who
do not take advantage of this trampoline for launching into the
conquest of the world's greatest concert halls.